2019-2-4 19:01 |
The popular cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has acquired the crypto derivatives trading platform and index provider Crypto Facilities. The information was released by the crypto exchange on February 4 in a press release. The intention is to create a global leader in crypto spot and futures trading.
Crypto Facilities is a company that offers both individuals and institutions a transparent and secure trading service related to crypto derivatives. The firm is also a crypto index provider that calculates the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. This is used to power Bitcoin futures trading at the CME.
Furthermore, Crypto Facilities was the first firm and regulated entity that listed futures on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
The decision to acquire Crypto Facilities shows that Kraken wants to meet the client’s demand for innovative products and services that will be complementing its virtual currency exchange and OTC services.
On the matter, the CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, commented:
“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.”
Timo Schalaefer, the CEO and Founder of Crypto Facilities, mentioned that their mission was to build the most sophisticated, powerful and user-friendly crypto trading platform. The platform is based in London and it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In order to close the deal, the company paid a ‘nine-figure’ sum, becoming in this way, the largest acquisition made by Kraken up to date. Kraken has purchased several companies in the past including Coinsetter, Cavirtex, and CleverCoin, among others. Thus, Kraken had to pay at least $100 million for this company.
Kraken is one of the most popular exchanges in the cryptocurrency market. According to CoinMarketCap, Kraken is the 47th largest digital asset exchange in terms of trading volume in the last 24 hours. The company handled $37 million in trades. The most important trading pairs at the exchange are BTC/EUR, ETH/USD and BTC/USD, accounting for 68% of the total trading volume at the platform.
In a recent conversation with CoinDesk, Powell explained that the deal brings their developer team to over 100. This would allow Kraken to add more assets to the platform. The cryptocurrency landscape has been very complicated during the last few months. Trading volume in most of the platforms decreased after a bear market that affected the whole space. Due to this situation, exchanges such as Coinbase, that were very conservative with their listing policy, started to add new virtual currencies to their platforms.
In this way, Kraken will remain competitive and will be able to attract more users to their exchange. At the same time, Powell mentioned that they are trying to build the most liquid futures exchange.
With this purchase, users will be able to trade futures on nights and weekends rather than just from nine to five during the days of the week.
“You can margin in real time, you don’t have to provide for gap risk overnight or over the weekends, you can take less margin which is more capital efficient,”
Schlaefer commented.
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