Klarna has taken a major step into crypto finance by partnering with Coinbase to accept stablecoin funding from institutional investors. The move signals growing confidence in digital dollars as a serious funding tool for large financial firms.
Klarna Taps Stablecoins for Institutional Capital
Per a Fortune report, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later company said the partnership allows institutions to provide capital using stablecoins instead of traditional cash instruments. The capital will help finance the lending business of Klarna, which includes providing short term, interest free loans to consumers.
According to the CFO of Klarna, stablecoins will make a new pool of institutional funds available. Such investors might prefer to fund using blockchain because of the speed, transparency and the ease of settlement. The change is a confirmation of a wider trend, with U.S. banks coming close to issuing stablecoins amid updated regulations.
Klarna has avoided been exposed to crypto over the years despite the rapid growth of digital assets. However, their position has changed significantly within the last two months. Last month, Klarna introduced a dollar-pegged stablecoin, KlarnaUSD.
The token was launched under a new blockchain supported by Stripe and venture capital firm Paradigm. Later on, Klarna also introduced crypto products through a partnership with with Privy, which is owned by Stripe.
What Is The Reason Behind Fintech Companies Using Stablecoins?
Stablecoins enables businesses to move capital at a higher speed compared to banks or the bond market. Such efficiencies is also happening when it comes payments where RLUSD enables card settlement partnerships between crypto and fintech companies.
The Klarna step is also a representative of a macro trend in banking and fintech. There are more companies that are experimenting with the use of stablecoins as infrastructure rather than speculative assets. For instance, SoFi recently declared its intention to release its own stablecoin to make payment settlements easier.
In addition, the banking arm of Sony has confirmed that it is now testing a dollar-backed digital token. These actions indicate that stablecoins are getting adopted outside crypto-native firms.
Clearer regulations have hastened this transformation. In the early part of this year, President Donald Trump signed a bill that established a framework of regulations for stablecoins.
This step minimizes risk to firms looking into blockchain-based finance and motivated institutions to consider using regulated digital dollar products.
Source: https://coingape.com/klarna-partners-coinbase-for-institutional-stablecoin-funding/
