The Swedish fintech company Klarna finally caved in to the pressure of its 80+ millions users to provide crypto services. It comes at a time when the company is preparing for its anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) which will take place in April. The IPO could be valued up to 15 billion dollars, and it would make the listing one of largest of the year.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski is the CEO of Klarna and he posted a message on X. “Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto! More to come… Last large fintech in the world to embrace it. Someone had to be last.” Then he added:
“Btw all crypto fans. Tell me what we should do with it? We have 85 m users worldwide. 100 bn of volume. Over 0.5 m merchants. About 30% of volume is debit not credit. Over 1 million cards. I have some ideas but keen to hear more!”
The news of Klarna’s crypto venture sparked intense interest among investors and builders in the space, with responses from “just add bitcoin to your balance sheet,” Build within certain ecosystems like Cosmos and Solana.
Co-founder & chairman of Safello AB, a leading crypto exchange in the Nordics, FrankSchuil, commented:
“Klarna has a $14.6B valuation and $96B GMV in 2023. This impacts its 85M+ users and the broader fintech space. Crypto transactions could integrate with its BNPL model, potentially processing billions in digital assets.”
The CEO suggested some possible applications for Klarna, including integrating cryptocurrency as a form of payment, allowing merchants to accept transactions through Klarna, and improving the mobile app by adding a crypto wallet.
Klarna, founded in 2005, became Europe’s top startup by 2021. A fundraising round valued the company at $46 billion. Its decision to embrace crypto may be a signal to other resistant TradFi entities, proving it’s never too late to enter the space and unlock potential new avenues for growth.
Posted In: Sweden, Adoption, Crypto, Featured, Payments Author 
Christina Comben
Christina is an editor, writer and content manager for web3. She loves technology and getting people talking. Being an OG in the industry, Christina is not affected by volatility of markets and she often scrimps Starbucks so that BTFD can have a good time.
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