Kraken acquires Bitcoin exchange CleverCoin, EUR/BTC trading volume grows rapidly

Digital asset trading service platform Kraken announced the acquisition of Dutch bitcoin exchange CleverCoin, seeking to expand products and services for European customers.

Kraken is one of the most famous cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, founded in 2011. Although the company is based in San Francisco, the majority of its trades come from Europe. The exchange provides exchange and trading services for various currency pairs (up to 5x leverage).

Kraken also announced the acquisition of New York Bitcoin trading platform Coinsetter earlier this year. This is very consistent with the company name Kraken (English means 'Norwegian sea monster, North Sea giant'). After acquiring CleverCoin, Kraken can further ensure its dominance in the total volume of digital asset transactions in Europe. The exchange can absorb thousands of new customers. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said that all existing CleverCoin customers will be automatically transferred to the Kraken platform on June 29.

CleverCoin was founded in 2013. The company is one of the earliest Dutch Bitcoin exchanges. Boost VC, an investment firm backed by venture capitalists Tim and Adam Draper, provided development funding to the startup. Speaking about the acquisition, CleverCoin CTO and co-founder Karsten Nilsen said:

“Kraken is the ideal custodian for CleverCoin moving forward. Kraken is the largest Bitcoin and digital asset exchange in Europe by every measure, and our core philosophies are completely aligned. As of today, CleverCoin clients will have seamless access to all of Kraken’s features and benefits from Kraken’s global brand, including the ability to trade many of the most popular currency pairs, the latest technology, state-of-the-art security and faster Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) transfers.”

A statement published on Kraken’s corporate blog reflects on the impact this new acquisition may have:

“Given that the majority of CleverCoin clients are based in European countries, the acquisition is expected to have the greatest impact on Kraken’s EUR pairs. Weekly average volumes for these pairs have been growing at a high rate since the third week of April. XBT-EUR and ETH-EUR volumes have increased more than 4x, while ETH-XBT has increased a whopping 9x.”

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said:

“In such a short period of time, the cryptocurrency industry has matured. Our merger and acquisition program has been accelerating. Prices are rising. Regulation of cryptocurrency is becoming clearer quickly. Clients from around the world are joining us and setting new records. Acquiring CleverCoin will increase Kraken’s liquidity and significantly expand Kraken’s European client base.”

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell

Kraken has received investment from a large number of investment companies. This year, Kraken received investment from Japanese venture capital fund SBI Investment in its Series B financing, and Money Partner Group expanded its Series B financing.