Kraken Steps Away from Signature Bank Due to Transfer Limitations

Last month, Signature banned SWIFT transactions less than $100,000

article-image

Source: Shutterstock / PL Gould, modified by Blockworks

share

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is reducing reliance on Signature Bank for some key financial transactions.

A Kraken spokesperson said that the exchange maintains a number of different funding methods to ensure clients can deposit and withdraw from their accounts.

“Consumers still have access to a range of payment methods through our other partners,” the spokesperson told Blockworks. “Clients can reach out to the client engagement team to determine which options are available to them.”

Non-corporate entities will be unable to deposit dollars or withdraw them using Signature, according to an email seen by Bloomberg, reported Wednesday. Clients have until March 15 to make deposits, and until the end of this month to make withdrawals. 

Kraken reportedly told customers that this decision was influenced by recent changes executed by Signature. It isn’t clear yet which banking partner will replace Signature.

Signature didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time. 

Last month, Signature told Binance that it would no longer handle SWIFT transactions worth lesser than $100,000. The US lender signaled intentions to shrink as much as $10 billion in crypto-related deposits as the industry faced headwinds last year.

Binance then told customers that support for transactions below the threshold would cease from Feb. 1 onward.

A Binance spokesperson told Blockworks that the exchange was working to find an alternative solution, and that less than 0.1% of its average monthly users were being serviced by the bank.

About 23% of Signature’s $103 billion in customer deposits came from the crypto industry as of November, according to the Financial Times. Signature has said its deposit relationship with FTX and related companies equated to less than 0.1% of overall deposits. 

“We’re not just a crypto bank and we want that to come across loud and clear,” chief operating officer Eric Howell said at an industry conference.

Signature Bank is not being shunned by everyone, though. Notably, FTX’s derivatives arm LedgerX recently decided to replace its banking partner Silvergate with Signature Bank. Although LedgerX was acquired by FTX US, it remains one of the bankrupt exchange’s solvent businesses.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful