Kraken Acquires Futures Provider Crypto Facilities

By Rishma Banerjee

As revealed by a press release, dated the 4th of February, Kraken which is a cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States of America, has acquired the United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency exchange and futures provider Crypto Facilities. Crypto Facilities began their operations in 2015, and is completely regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of U.K. This will indeed give Kraken a strong foothold in the European market. Though the exact figure involved in conducting the deal has not been revealed, the press release does say that it was a nine-figure deal.

The CEO of Kraken said in the press release,

“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.”

This takeover comes at a time when many more exchanges are looking beyond their own countries, in an attempt to increase their reach and find a way around the restrictions engendered by the patchwork regulatory landscape in the U.S. versus other potential markets.

Crypto exchange Bittrex also recently launched an international counterpart to their trading platform, thus effectively segregating their U.S. users in an effort to offer more tokens to non-U.S. markets.

The press release also added that,

“Crypto Facilities will remain London-based, benefiting from the regulatory oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the world’s most forward-looking and innovation-focused regulators, and reflecting Kraken’s commitment to the UK as the leading financial and cryptocurrency hub in Europe.”

It has also been revealed that both Kraken and Crypto Facilities will assume a London based approach, while moving forward, initially.

Meanwhile, though a survey conducted in December said that the level of awareness regarding the crypto industry was in the rise amongst the people, in U.K., the authorities were still continuing to grapple with legislation with some industry parties even criticizing plans that could see certain types of cryptocurrency trading instruments from getting banned.