Why Leading Crypto Exchanges Are Partnering with PayFi Giants – Faster Than Ever

In the past month, 4 leading Crypto exchanges have announced partnerships with payments giants like Visa, PayPal, and JPMorgan. Here's Why

Published by

Sneha Agrawal

August 19, 2025

Why Leading Crypto Exchanges Are Partnering with PayFi Giants – Faster Than Ever

Since last month, a cluster of announcements from major crypto exchanges suggests an emerging strategic pivot: rather than building global payment rails from scratch, leading exchanges are increasingly integrating with incumbent banks and payment networks.

Over the past weeks, Kraken added PayPal funding for U.S. users, Coinbase struck a bank-and-card tie-up with JPMorgan Chase, and Binance rolled out instant withdraws to Mastercard in Europe.

However, what exactly does this common move signifies and why are the industry’s leading players following it. Here’s it:

Crypto Exchanges Partnering with PayFi Giants

To begin with, take few examples.

1. JPMorgan Chase and Coinbase have announced a multi-stage integration: starting in fall 2025, Chase credit-card customers will be able to use their cards to fund purchases on Coinbase. Further, from next year, Chase cardholders will also be able to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for USDC and link accounts directly to Coinbase. This came as a bank-grade onramp to crypto for 80 million Chase customers.

2. Kraken launched PayPal as a funding option for U.S. users in early August 2025. With this, its users will be able to make near-instant USD deposits via PayPal balance, linked bank or card without traditional wires or bank logins.

also announced support to PayPal as a payment method in US.

crypto exchanges — Source: Linkedin Post

This came in as PayPal launched its “Pay with Crypto” feature allowing U.S. businesses to accept payments in 100+ cryptocurrencies. With this, the merchants can receive settlement in PYUSD (PayPal’s stablecoin) with promotional low fees.

4. On August 7, leading crypto exchange Binance announced payments-rail integration with Mastercard. As part of it, it launched Sell-to-Card and Withdraw-to-Card flows that let users convert crypto to fiat and push fiat directly to their Mastercard debit/credit cards. It has initially rolled out the service to users in the EEA & UK, with EUR payouts supported.

Also Read: Another Kraken Lawyer Departs the Exchange

Behind the Move

The strategy behind the move isn’t too tough to guess. Onramps and offramps are the biggest adoption bottleneck in crypto adoption and bringing users into web3. These card and banking integrations collapse the time-to-first-trade. It allows consumers to use familiar rails (cards, PayPal, bank links) rather than forcing an entirely new payments habit.

Thus, these crypto exchanges by tying exchange rails to established payments and banking networks are aiming to reduce this onboarding friction in web3. This can accelerate user onboarding, reduces settlement friction, and make crypto as a utility for everyday commerce.

With this, exchanges get scale and mainstream distribution; banks and card networks get exposure to a fast-growing asset class and new product flows.

Also Read: Former Netflix and Meta Engineers Launch Blockchain

Why trust CoinGape: CoinGape has covered the cryptocurrency industry since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts bring years of experience in market analysis and blockchain technology to ensure factual accuracy and balanced reporting. By following our Editorial Policy, our writers verify every source, fact-check each story, rely on reputable sources, and attribute quotes and media correctly. We also follow a rigorous Review Methodology when evaluating exchanges and tools. From emerging blockchain projects and coin launches to industry events and technical developments, we cover all facets of the digital asset space with unwavering commitment to timely, relevant information.

Investment disclaimer: The content reflects the author’s personal views and current market conditions. Please conduct your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies, as neither the author nor the publication is responsible for any financial losses.

Ad Disclosure: This site may feature sponsored content and affiliate links. All advertisements are clearly labeled, and ad partners have no influence over our editorial content.

About Author

With over four years of experience in covering and tracking the financial markets, Sneha Agrawal is a dedicated Crypto Journalist and Editor with passion for researching and writing the crypto pieces. She is currently leading the Brandtalk section, here at CoinGape. She likes to keep track of political, legal and financial happenings all around the world - without which she deems her day incomplete. Apart from her Journalistic endeavours, she is a solo traveler, museum goer, and a keen reader of books.