Morgan Stanley starts a crypto fee fight

Payward, Kraken's parent company, will acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies in a $600 million cash-and-stock deal, according to Bloomberg. The acquisition marks Kraken's first infrastructure buy in Asia and (once again) values Payward at $20 billion. Reap provides cross-border payments infrastructure focused on stablecoin settlement. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi told Bloomberg the deal positions Reap to expand into the U.S. market. The move follows Payward's April acquisition of derivatives platform Bitnomial and comes as Kraken says it's about 80% ready for an IPO. Read more →

Amazon’s AWS is partnering with Coinbase and Stripe to launch Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, allowing AI agents to execute micropayments using USDC stablecoins. Developers can choose between Coinbase or Stripe wallets and fund them with stablecoins or fiat. The move signals Big Tech's embrace of blockchain-based payment infrastructure for the emerging autonomous agent economy. Read more →

Morgan Stanley is rolling out spot crypto trading on its E*Trade platform with a dig at rivals – cheaper pricing. The bank is charging clients 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction – undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab. The offering is in pilot now, with all of E*Trade’s 8.6 million clients set to gain access later this year. The move comes weeks after Morgan Stanley launched MSBT, its low-fee spot bitcoin ETF, so the pattern is getting clearer: the bank is trying to compete in crypto through the same weapons it uses in traditional finance – pricing, distribution, and a giant advisor/client base. Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas warned that Schwab likely “won’t let this stand,” adding that “this is why TradFi is no joke and crypto exchanges should be scared.” Read more →

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