Kraken's parent company has secured a regulatory foothold in the British Virgin Islands, adding another jurisdiction to its growing global compliance infrastructure. Payward, the unified fina
Kraken's parent company has secured a regulatory foothold in the British Virgin Islands, adding another jurisdiction to its growing global compliance infrastructure.
Payward, the unified financial infrastructure platform that owns and operates the Kraken crypto exchange, has been granted Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registrations by the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Financial Services Commission.
The license, issued under the BVI's Virtual Assets Service Providers Act 2022, allows Payward to provide regulated digital asset services to clients operating from or through the BVI.
Related: BVI Finance's Fintech on the Seas 2026 focuses on AI and digital assets
The VASP registration gives Payward formal regulatory standing in the BVI, one of the world's well-established global finance jurisdictions.
It means clients based in or operating through the territory can now access Kraken's digital asset services under a regulated framework, adding one of the world's largest crypto exchanges to the BVI's expanding digital asset ecosystem.
The BVI is not a minor player in this space. According to a report launched by BVI Finance at FinTech on the Seas 2026, the territory accounts for more than 10% of the global market for U.S. tokenized treasuries and holds $1.2 billion in stablecoins.
The jurisdiction has been quietly building one of the most significant digital asset regulatory frameworks outside of major financial centres.
The territory's Minister responsible for Financial Services and Economic Development, Hon. Lorna Smith OBE, welcomed the move as a validation of the BVI's regulatory approach.
"Payward's decision to establish its presence in the Virgin Islands is a strong endorsement of the progressive balance we have achieved between fostering innovation and maintaining a robust approach to regulation," Smith said.
"As parent company to one of the world's most trusted digital asset platforms, Kraken, its commitment to security, transparency and compliance aligns closely with the values that underpin our financial services industry."
BVI Finance CEO Elise Donovan framed the licensing as part of a broader pattern of institutional confidence in the jurisdiction.
"The BVI has long been a cornerstone of international finance. Payward's licensing is another strong endorsement of the BVI as a trusted jurisdiction for digital assets and further demonstrates the continued confidence that leading global firms have in our legal framework, regulatory architecture and professional ecosystem," Donovan said.
The announcement follows the launch of BVI Finance's Destination Digital: An On-Chain Future report at FinTech on the Seas 2026, which laid out the BVI's positioning as a leading global hub for digital assets and tokenized finance.
Donovan added that demand from innovative businesses is continuing to grow.
"From tokenization and stablecoins to blockchain-based financial services, we are seeing continued demand from innovative businesses looking for a jurisdiction that combines regulatory certainty with the flexibility to support responsible innovation."
For Payward, the BVI registration adds to a growing list of regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions as the company continues to build out its compliance infrastructure globally.
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