Kraken did not stop and continued in its acquisition activity by purchasing Netherlands-based exchange CleverCoin. Acquisition price has not been disclosed yet.
Customers of CleverCoin will now move to the Kraken platform from today, June 29. All the customers with an existing account shall update their information at Kraken.
CleverCoin kept on of the top position among bitcoin exchanges in the Netherlands and Kraken sees the acquisition as a consolidation of its position among European cryptocurrency trading platforms. The company has started its activity in 2013 and was boosted at the beginning by a cryptocurrency investor Adam Draper and his BoostVC accelerator program.
Karsten Nilsen, CleverCoin CTO and co-founder stated in a statement:
“Kraken is the ideal custodian for CleverCoin going forwards […] As of today, CleverCoin clients will have seamless access to all the features and benefits of Kraken’s global brand, including the ability to trade many of the most popular currency pairs, the latest technology, the most advanced security, and faster Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) transfers.”
As for Kraken, the company was established in 2011 and became well known before 2016 as a predominantly European exchange, being one of the main drivers of the BTC-EUR price. Albeit having headquartes in San Francisco, US, it made its first huge steps for the North American market in January when it bought US-based Coinsetter and Canada’s Cavirtex. Moreover, Kraken is active in Japan as well. It manages the Mt Gox claims process on behalf of the Japanese bankruptcy trustee. It trades major fiat currencies in all regions in which it operates, plus GBP and CAD. The exchange offers bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, ether, DAO and Ripple’s XRP.
Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, said that company’s M&A plans have been supported by encouraging news throughout the digital currency industry.
“Prices are rising, the regulatory picture is rapidly clarifying, and clients from around the globe are joining us in record numbers. The acquisition of CleverCoin will empower Kraken with greater liquidity and a significantly expanded customer base in Europe, our flagship market.”
Furthermore, Kraken’s statement informed that it has seen a rapid increase in euro-based trading for both BTC and ETH over recent months, with volumes rising even four times.
After the Coinsetter and Cavirtex acquisition, weekly trade volumes jumped markedly in North Ameria – including XBT/USD (13 tims), ETH/USD (30 times), XBT/CAD (50 times), and ETH/CAD (6 times).
Kraken also completed Series B funding deals earlier in 2016, led by Japanese venture fund SBI Investment plus Japanese FX brokerage Money Partners Group. It was one of the first exchanges to offer trading in Ethereum’s currency ether, and last month announced the first ether ‘dark pool’ and leveraged ether trading.
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