Swedish Fintech Innovator Klarna Explores Cryptocurrency Integration Within Its Platform

Klarna is exploring cryptocurrency integration within its platform, signaling a strategic pivot amid preparations for a prospective U.S. IPO.

Klarna, a Swedish fintech company, is considering integrating cryptocurrency into its platform, according to a statement from the company's CEO on Feb. 8.

The news comes as Klarna is reportedly preparing for a massive $15 billion IPO in the United States. The company is known for its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, which allow consumers to purchase items and pay for them in installments.

In a post on X, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski announced the company's decision to finally embrace crypto, despite excluding digital assets from its signature BNPL offerings.

“Ok. I give up. Klarna and [I] will embrace crypto! More to come,” Siemiatkowski posted. “Yes, I know! This post will get a huge sigh and 2 views. But it still feels historic. [The] last large fintech in the world to embrace it. Someone had to be last. And that's a milestone as well of some sort.”

Klarna's pivot into crypto comes as the digital asset industry is experiencing a wave of mainstream adoption, with several major payment providers and e-commerce platforms integrating crypto services into their offerings.

Siemiatkowski acknowledged Klarna's delayed entry into the digital currency arena but called for collaborative ideation, urging experts to propose methods to harness its vast network of 85 million consumers and $100 billion annual payment flow.

“Btw all crypto fans,” Siemiatkowski continued. “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 [the] volume is debit not credit. Over 1 million cards. I have some ideas but [am] keen to hear more.”

The founder of Metallicus and Metal Pay, Marshall Hayner, responded to the Klarna executive's post, suggesting that the company integrate into the Metal ecosystem, launch a stablecoin, and get it into the XMD basket.

“You should integrate into the Metal ecosystem,” Hayner remarked. “Launch a stablecoin, Klarna subnet, and get it into the XMD basket, add defi lending and trading with Metal X. Hit me up.”

Another individual suggested that Klarna should embrace Bitcoin (BTC) and not bother with altcoins, while Nikhil Chandhok, Circle's product and technology lead, highlighted that stablecoin systems could streamline payment operations more efficiently than Klarna's existing infrastructure.

“You can settle with your merchants in stablecoin. Probably be faster than what you are doing now,” Chandhok wrote. “You can let users connect their crypto wallets to Klarna to make the payments. International users looking to use Klarna will then have a way to do that.”