June 26 (Reuters) - Crypto exchange Kraken on Thursday

launched a peer-to-peer payments app that enables users to send

and receive funds - in both cryptocurrency and fiat currency -

across more than a hundred countries.

The move is a bid to expand Kraken's offerings beyond its

digital asset trading business, and puts the firm in competition

with PayPal ( PYPL ), Venmo and Block's CashApp.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Crypto exchanges such as Kraken are increasingly signaling

an interest in expanding outside of the digital asset trading

that initially became popular with retail investors. Kraken said

last month that it is launching tokens of U.S. equities, called

xStocks, in select markets outside the United States.

CONTEXT

Krak users will have a dedicated spend account and will be

able to instantly send and request payments across 300 different

assets, including crypto and local currencies, the company said

in a press release. Crypto transfers will be made using

blockchain technology, while Kraken will make cash transfers

internally without using external banking infrastructure.

KEY QUOTE

"We're able to move money across borders right off the bat,

because that's what we do from a trading perspective in our

venues, and we've actually already spent over 10 years building

out that system for money transmitter licenses... in all the

jurisdictions," said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, in an

interview with Reuters.

"You have to do that as an exchange anyways, and so what we

realized is that our customers just wanted to do more with their

money."

WHAT'S NEXT

Kraken plans to launch a series of products through Krak in

the future, including physical and virtual cards as well as

pay-in-advance services like loans, the company said.