BNY in Talks With Kraken Parent Payward on a Global Digital-Asset Infrastructure Deal
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR: BNY, the world's largest custody bank, is in talks with Kraken parent Payward on a partnership spanning crypto products, custody, trading, payments and infrastructure.
What's being discussed
BNY and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, are in talks over a partnership covering crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments and infrastructure, as reported around 2 October 2026 by PYMNTS and CoinDesk.
The deal would run through Payward Services, the arm that provides infrastructure to banks, exchanges and asset managers. No terms have been disclosed, both companies declined to comment, and the talks are ongoing with no certainty of an outcome. This is a discussion, not a signed deal.
Why the world's biggest custodian is at the table
BNY is the largest custodian on earth. That a bank of its scale is even holding exploratory talks with a crypto exchange's infrastructure arm says a great deal about how seriously incumbent finance now takes on-chain rails.
BNY CEO Robin Vince has said he wants the bank to lead in the infrastructure connecting traditional money, tokenised assets and blockchains. A tie-up with Payward Services would fit that ambition directly.
Payward's pivot from exchange to infrastructure
For Payward, the logic is just as clear. The company has been pivoting from a consumer exchange brand into a financial-infrastructure provider, and a BNY partnership would validate that shift at the highest level.
The context helps: Nasdaq invested $100 million in Payward in September 2026. A pattern is forming in which established financial institutions buy into, or partner with, crypto infrastructure rather than building it from scratch.
It is also a reminder that the lines between exchange, bank and infrastructure provider are blurring fast. The firms that once competed for retail traders are increasingly competing to supply the rails that everyone else runs on.
Marketing Minute's read: the boring layer is where the money pairs up
The headlines in crypto still chase tokens and prices, but the serious institutional money is pairing up around the unglamorous layer: custody, settlement, payments and infrastructure. That is exactly where BNY and Payward are talking.
For founders and marketers, the signal is to take infrastructure positioning seriously. The boring plumbing is precisely what large institutions want to buy, partner on and pay for.
Our framework: when you assess a crypto partnership or product, ask whether it strengthens the infrastructure layer or just the speculative one. The former attracts patient institutional capital; the latter attracts cycles. As talks like this show, the infrastructure story brings the biggest names to the table.
Quick FAQ
Is BNY buying Kraken?
No. BNY is in talks with Kraken's parent, Payward, over a partnership covering crypto products, custody, trading, payments and infrastructure. No terms have been disclosed and the talks are ongoing with no guaranteed outcome.
What would the BNY-Payward deal cover?
Discussions span crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments and infrastructure, running through Payward Services, which supplies infrastructure to banks, exchanges and asset managers.
Why does a BNY-Payward partnership matter?
BNY is the world's largest custodian, so even exploratory talks signal how seriously traditional finance now takes on-chain infrastructure.
Notice where the biggest name in custody is spending its time — not on a token, but on custody, settlement and payments plumbing. The headlines chase prices, but the institutional money is quietly pairing up around the boring infrastructure layer. That's the part of crypto I'd be building and positioning around. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The “boring” infrastructure layer — custody, settlement and payments — is where the big institutional money is pairing up.
Does your crypto strategy strengthen the infrastructure layer institutions want, or just the speculative one that rides the cycle?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: PYMNTS, CoinDesk, GuruFocus.
Related reading
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
