Payward Ireland Limited

E-money or payment institution · Dublin, Ireland

Payward Ireland Limited is the Irish arm of the Kraken crypto exchange, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as an electronic money institution under registration C453020. It holds customer fiat balances and runs the credit transfers and card services behind Kraken accounts in the European Economic Area, while a sister company, Payward Europe Solutions Limited, holds the MiCA crypto asset service provider authorisation for spot trading. For a business the account is a route into crypto trading and custody, not a general business bank account: there is no lending, no multi-currency treasury and no published corporate pricing for this entity.

Legal name: Payward Ireland Limited
Regulated by: Central Bank of Ireland
Licence confirmed: yes, on a regulator's own list
Established: 2011
Website: www.kraken.com

Scores, 0 to 10

9.5Crypto-friendly bank

The whole purpose of the entity is to hold fiat for a crypto exchange; Kraken has traded since 2011 and holds MiCA, MiFID and e-money authorisations in Ireland. · source

9.0On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat

Verified business accounts fund in fiat from a bank account in the company's name, with this Irish EMI holding the euros, and buy crypto on the exchange or OTC desk, per its business account guide updated August 2026. · source

9.0Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account

Businesses sell crypto and withdraw fiat to a bank account registered under the same company name, with source-of-funds and AML questionnaires set out in the verification guide. · source

9.0Bitcoin

Business accounts can buy, hold, deposit and withdraw BTC from company-owned wallets under the MiCA custody and transfer authorisation held by sister entity C468360 in Ireland. · source

8.5Ethereum

ETH and ERC-20 tokens are traded, held and transferred under the same MiCA authorisation, which also covers custody and portfolio management of crypto-assets for EEA clients. · source

8.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business

Kraken business accounts hold crypto under a sister entity's MiCA CASP authorisation (Central Bank of Ireland reference C468360), while this entity is the EMI (C453020) that holds the fiat side; its business account page lists no multi-user approval rules. · source

7.0Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)

Business accounts can trade, hold and send stablecoins available to EEA clients under MiCA, but Kraken offers no stablecoin payout product for suppliers in Europe and does not issue one from this entity. · source

6.0Europe (EU, EEA, Switzerland)

Irish e-money authorisation C453020 from the Central Bank of Ireland, passported across the EEA, paired with two MiCA crypto asset service provider licences at the same regulator. · source

6.0Fast digital onboarding

Signup is fully online through Kraken with tiered identity verification, but Trustpilot reviewers repeatedly describe long verification holds. · source

5.5Financial strength & stability

Kraken reported USD 1.5 billion of 2024 revenue and USD 380 million adjusted earnings with USD 42.8 billion of client assets, but Payward is private, unrated and publishes no balance sheet for the Irish entity. · source

5.0Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)

Payward Ireland's authorisation covers debit cards for its e-money accounts, but no business card programme, virtual cards or spend controls are published. · source

5.0Foreign-owned & non-resident companies

The e-money authorisation covers the whole EEA, so companies incorporated in any EEA state can be served, but Kraken publishes no policy on non-resident owners. · source

4.0Lowest fees

No fee schedule is published for the Payward Ireland e-money account itself; pricing shown on the Kraken site is trading pricing, not account pricing. · source

4.0Startups & VC-backed companies

Companies can open a Kraken account online, but there is no startup programme, venture debt or founder product. · source

4.0Customer satisfaction

Trustpilot 3.2 out of 5 from 8,667 reviews, with 32% five-star and 50% one-star. · source

4.0Accept crypto payments

Kraken Pay has an API with pay requests, paylinks and signed webhooks, but it moves funds between Kraken users by Kraktag and no fiat-settling merchant checkout with published fees was found in September 2026. · source

3.5Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts

The Irish entity issues euro e-money and provides credit transfers; Kraken publishes no multi-currency account, no FX margin and no local rails outside its licensed markets. One euro e-money account with no cash pooling, no hedging and no multi-entity account structure. · source

3.5Best interest on business balances

Payward Ireland is an e-money institution and publishes no interest rate on euro balances; e-money may not pay interest under EU rules. · source

3.5Fintech companies that need a partner bank

Kraken buys rail access through its own licences rather than supplying safeguarding accounts or agency banking to other payment firms. · source

3.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS

No card acquiring, no marketplace payouts and no local collection accounts; the account exists to fund crypto trading. No receiving accounts, no accounting integrations and no recurring revenue financing; the product is a crypto trading account. · source

3.0High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)

Kraken serves crypto firms but publishes no onboarding path for gambling, cannabis, adult or forex operators. · source

1.0Trade, manufacturing & import-export

No letters of credit, guarantees or supply chain finance anywhere in the Kraken product set. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.