Klarna CEO Sebastian Siematkowski confirmed the company's plans to enter the crypto market via an X post where he wrote:
“Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto! More to come. Yes I know! This post will get a huge sigh and 2 views 😂 But it still feels historic. Last large fintech in the world to embrace it. Someone had to be last. And that’s a milestone as well of some sort… 🥳”
Siematkowski welcomed industry feedback to refine Klarna’s approach and received input in the comments:
- Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Circle, suggested that Klarna could settle merchant transactions in stablecoins for faster processing and improved cash flow. He also mentioned integrating crypto wallets to enable direct crypto payments for Klarna purchases.
- Raghav Gulati, CEO of CoinList, also recommended allowing payments with stablecoins on low-cost networks like Solana and suggested holding a small Bitcoin position in the company's treasury as an inflation hedge.
- Other suggestions included offering crypto as a form of wealth storage for Klarna's clients, only embracing Bitcoin and ignoring all the other coins (this suggestion was given a lot), and Klarna building its own stablecoin like PayPal did,
- BNPL, however, doesn't sound like it's on the table for crypto, as Siemiatkowski's response to the suggestion was, “Haha probably not.”
Siematkowski has historically been skeptical of Bitcoin and crypto in general. In an interview with CNBC in April 2021, he cautioned against promoting crypto assets as a financial investment product without protection and said that he was “deeply worried” about the risks associated with cryptocurrency.
Klarna's main competitor Affirm has previously explored the crypto space, launching the “Affirm Crypto Program” back in 2021, which allowed customers to buy and sell Bitcoin, but the company discontinued the program in early 2023 and hasn't ventured into crypto since.
Siematkowski's noise surrounding crypto could also be related to the fact that Klarna is preparing to go public in the US this April at a valuation that could hit $15B, according to Financial Time sources. The latest financial disclosures from Klarna show that from January through September last year, the company's GMV surged 16% to $72.7B and revenues were up 23% to $1.86B. Crypto could provide a new revenue channel to entice investors with.