(Bloomberg) -- Klarna Bank AB Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the firm, known for its buy now, pay later offerings, is exploring an expansion into the cryptocurrency market.
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After previously dismissing crypto as a “decentralized Ponzi scheme,” Siemiatkowski recently talked with Klarna board member Andrew Reed, a Sequoia Capital partner, and then met with crypto companies about digital currencies including Bitcoin and stablecoins, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday. He posted “I give up” on social-media platform X on Feb. 8, saying Klarna “will embrace crypto.”
“And I thought that like everyone would be just sighing and thinking that this is the most boring news ever because it feels like we are the last large fintech in the world to say that,” he said in the interview. “But I had over a million views, so people were super engaged, the whole community opened up and I got like a thousand ideas about what we’re going to do.”
He added: “Sometimes you’re wrong.”
Stockholm-based Klarna also said this week that it’s partnering with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s payments-processing unit to expand its buy now, pay later options for its merchants. JPMorgan Payments will provide some 900,000 businesses the ability to offer Klarna’s fast-credit options to their customers. Klarna has added Stripe, Adyen and Worldpay to its distribution roster in recent months, after selling its own checkout business last year.
The partnership will take time to roll out due to “system integrations,” Siemiatkowski said.
Klarna, which has 85 million customers globally, has been rapidly expanding in the US. An American banking license is one of the options the financial-technology firm is exploring, which would give Klarna the ability to “control even more customer experience and provide a richer service,” according to Siemiatkowski.
--With assistance from Caroline Hyde and Jackie Davalos.
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