In one of the most strategic moves of 2019, the exchange known as Kraken has acquired the U.K based Crypto Facilities crypto trading platform and index provider. Kraken, based in San Francisco, combined with the reach Crypto Facililities has in Europe, creates a combination that will create a global leader in cryptocurrency spot and futures trading. The nine-figure deal is Kraken’s largest acquisition to date and possibly the largest that the crypto-verse has seen. (No exact figure has been provided at the moment of writing this.)

Kraken’s previous acquisitions include the Bitcoin exchanges of Coinsetter, Cavirtex and CleverCoin. The exchange also acquired the award-winning wallet funding service Glidera and the popular multi-exchange charting, trading and portfolio tracking platform of Cryptowatch.

Crypto Facilities was the first exchange to list XRP futures contracts back in October 2016 in collaboration with the Ripple company. Around the same time, Crypto Facilities also partnered with the CME Group. The latter partnership has resulted in the provision of reliable and transparent cryptocurrency pricing data for financial institutions, trading firms and data vendors worldwide. The data is in the form of indices for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The Kraken press release announcing the acquisition provides explains this further as follows.

A pioneer in the industry, [Crypto Facilitites] was the first regulated entity to list futures on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

The firm is also the leading cryptocurrency index provider, calculating the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate that powers the CME Group’s Bitcoin futures.  Users value the high integrity, low latency marketplace that Crypto Facilities provides under the regulatory supervision of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

With the acquisition, Kraken will now provide 6 new crypto futures contracts for its eligible clients. Crypto Facilities currently offers futures contracts for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP. These five futures contracts are paired with the USD. A sixth contract is with XRP paired with BTC.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, welcomed the Crypto Facilities team into the Kraken Family,

I’m thrilled to welcome the Crypto Facilities team into the Kraken family.

We are excited to introduce eligible clients to these industry leading futures and index products.  Over the coming months, our teams will continue to enhance and expand these offerings. We’ve got great stuff in store for traders and institutional clients in 2019.

What are your thoughts on Kraken acquiring the UK crypto trading firm of Crypto Facilities? Is it a sign of tough times for Crypto Facilities or Kraken widening its reach by providing additional crypto derivatives for crypto traders through this acquisition? Please let us know in the comment section below. 

[Image courtesy of Unsplash.com]

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any additional opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of Ethereum World News or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.

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