‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ giant Klarna to adopt crypto, says CEO

Strategic plans and community insights drive Klarna's long-anticipated entry into the digital asset arena.

Key Takeaways

• Klarna plans to integrate cryptocurrency services into its platform.
• Klarna CEO is seeking community input on how best to implement crypto features.

Klarna, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later fintech giant, is setting its sights on crypto integration, CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski said Saturday

“Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto! More to come,” he wrote on X. “Yes I know! This post will get a huge sigh and 2 views. But it still feels historic.”

Siemiatkowski playfully admitted that Klarna was among the last major fintech players to enter the crypto space.

“Someone had to be last. And that’s a milestone as well of some sort,” he stated.

Siemiatkowski, together with Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson, founded Klarna in 2005, and has run the company to become a global leader in the Buy Now, Pay Later sector.

Klarna currently serves 85 million customers and partners with over 500,000 merchants. The company processes $100 billion in transaction volume – 30% of that is debit card spending.

While sharing Klarna’s planned crypto adoption, Siemiatkowski also sought input from the crypto community on potential implementation strategies.

“…all crypto fans. Tell me what we should do with it?” he said. “I have some ideas but keen to hear more!”

“Will fill my to-do list for some while… Promise to follow up with all the ideas and suggestions!” he stated, crediting three entrepreneurs, introduced by Sequoia Capital’s Andrew Reed, for convincing him of crypto’s potential.

Circle’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Nikhil Chandhok, offered to assist, suggesting that Klarna could settle merchant transactions in stablecoins for faster processing and improved cash flow.

Chandhok also proposed integrating crypto wallets to enable direct crypto payments for Klarna purchases.

“Longer term, if you settle with your merchants on a public chain, you can probably enable a credit marketplace for them,” Chandhok said.

CoinList CEO Raghav Gulati recommended allowing payments with stablecoins on low-cost networks like Solana and suggested holding a small Bitcoin position in Klarna’s treasury as an inflation hedge.

Siemiatkowski said he would update on Klarna’s crypto plans.

Siemiatkowski’s earlier skepticism about Bitcoin and crypto assets seems to be waning. Although he early recognized their promise, he cautioned against promoting these assets as a financial investment product without protection.

“There’s a lot of promise in cryptocurrencies,” Siemiatkowski said in an interview with CNBC in April 2021. “But at the same time, I’m deeply worried that the big risk is like when my cab driver is asking me if he should invest in Bitcoin. That’s when I get nervous that a lot of people will come late into the party and lose a lot of money.”

Klarna’s biggest competitor, Affirm, has already dipped its toe into the arena. In late 2021, the US payments provider, in partnership with NYDIG, launched the “Affirm Crypto Program,” which allowed customers to buy and sell Bitcoin.

However, Affirm discontinued the program in early 2023.