Kraken Continues Acquisition Spree, Buys Australian Bit Trade

Source: Finance Magnates 2020-01-14

Kraken, one of the world’s longest-operating cryptocurrency exchanges, today finalized its acquisition of yet another company in the blockchain industry, this time taking over Bit Trade, one of Australia’s pioneer digital asset platforms.

Since 2013, Bit Trade allows customers to buy and sell bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with the Australian dollar, along with several supported deposit methods including credit and debit cards. The platform supports major coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.

Bit Trade also operates a multi-exchange aggregator which combines local and global exchanges into a single interface. This aggregation service, which takes the order books of multiple exchanges and combine them into one stream, facilitates block crypto trades using an over-the-counter trading desk.

Bit Trade is a founding member of the Australian Digital Commerce Association (ADCA), an industry body that represents Australian businesses that participate in the blockchain economy.

Kraken expands OTC portfolio

Becoming part of the Kraken family will enable Bit Trade to improve its core portfolio reconciliation product while creating new possibilities for clients who will now have easy access to Kraken’s suite of products.

“With this acquisition, Kraken will focus on being the premier crypto service in Australia with the best AUD liquidity, trading experience, and support for both institutional and retail clients. It also deepens our overall presence in the APAC region, and further bolsters our industry-leading OTC trading operation,” the exchange said in a statement.

Over the past two years, Kraken has transformed itself into a global crypto powerhouse, establishing its strong presence in both the US and European Bitcoin markets. Once the largest Bitcoin exchange in Europe, Kraken has also been a strong contender in the US market, with around three percent market share.

Last month, Kraken acquired Circle Trade, the largest OTC desks in crypto markets that handled last year alone over $24 billion in volume.

The OTC desk was initially tasked with providing liquidity for Circle’s retail bitcoin payments app, but its presence in the market grew to a scale where it began to serve a whole array of counterparties outside their own internal needs.

Kraken also acquired various crypto exchanges including Chicago-based non-custodial service Glidera and Dutch Bitcoin exchange CleverCoin.

Kraken Continues Acquisition Spree, Buys Australian Bit Trade

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