Klarna, with 85 million users worldwide, enters the crypto market and will challenge PayPal's dominance?

‍Swedish fintech giant Klarna is about to integrate Crypto assets into its services, indicating a strategic transformation of the global buy-first pay-and-after-on-one (BNPL) leader.

It is reported that the company plans to conduct an initial public offering (1PO) in the United States later this year.

On February 8, CEO Sebastian Siematkowski confirmed the company's plans to enter the Crypto asset market.

According to him, the company may be one of the last few large fintech companies to take this move, but that is a milestone in itself.

He said, "Klarna and I will embrace the Crypto assets, and there are more to come. All Crypto fans, tell me what we should do with it? We have 85 million users worldwide, 100 billion transaction volumes, and over 500,000 people worldwide, and more than 500,000 users worldwide Merchants. About 30% of the transaction volume is debit cards rather than credit cards, with a total of more than 1 million cards. "

While the company is willing to explore various Crypto asset integration strategies, Siematkowski also welcomes industry feedback to improve Klarna's approach. However, he denied the possibility of providing BNPL services for Crypto asset purchases.

In response, community members suggested that the company could leverage stablecoins to provide users with more flexibility in digital transaction settlement.

Industry stakeholders compared the company to PayPal, which launched its own stablecoin, and suggested that Klarna could take a similar approach. Others suggest integrating existing stablecoins to improve transaction efficiency.

"You can settle with merchants with stablecoins, which may be faster than you are now," said Nikhil Chandhok, chief product and technology officer at Circle, a stablecoin issuer.

In addition, community members also recommend blockchain networks and DeFi protocols (including Aave, Solana, and XRPL) as potential infrastructure partners.

Siematkowski acknowledges the rationality of these recommendations and points out that regulatory compliance remains a top priority.

He also highlighted that the fintech industry’s perception of Crypto assets is changing, acknowledging that compliance with regulatory rules is now seen as a competitive advantage. This view is in stark contrast to the dominance of skepticism in previous years.

"Anyway, it's interesting that many people emphasize that the advice of full compliance is a key advantage. This is a big change compared to a few years ago," Siematkowski said.

Meanwhile, Klarna is reportedly preparing for a 1PO in the United States, with a target valuation of up to $15 billion. If successful, it will be one of the biggest listings this year.

Since its establishment in 2005, Klarna has expanded rapidly, serving more than 85 million users and 500,000 merchants. According to statistics, it is currently the world's largest BNPL service provider.