Bitcoin exchange Kraken acquires Coinsetter to further expand its service scope

Bitcoin exchange Kraken announced that it has acquired New York-based Bitcoin trading platform Coinsetter. Kraken did not disclose the amount of money spent on the acquisition, but the exchange said it was a huge amount and one of the largest corporate mergers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Kraken's service scope will now include 37 states in the United States and 10 provinces in Canada.

Coinsetter acquired Canadian Bitcoin trading platform CAVirtex in April last year. Two months before the acquisition, CAVirtex announced the closure of its trading platform due to security issues.

Shortly after New York’s Bitcoin regulatory framework, the Bitlicense, was introduced last year, San Francisco-based Kraken refused to apply for a Bitlicense and announced that it would stop providing Bitcoin trading services to New York State.

Rumors of a Coinsetter sale have been swirling for months, as new, well-capitalized and regulated platforms have entered the U.S. market, such as New York-based bitcoin exchanges Coinbase, Gemini and itBit.

Coinsetter has been operating as an institutional exchange for a long time, having received $2 million in investment since its founding in 2012. At the end of 2014, Coinsetter received a $1.26 million investment.

Due to problems with cooperation with domestic banks in the United States, Kraken stopped its US dollar withdrawal service in early 2014 and did not open it until October. However, US residents are still unable to trade US dollars on the trading platform. However, Kraken has become a leader in the euro-to-bitcoin trading market. According to Kaiko data, Kraken's euro-to-bitcoin trading volume reached 6,000 BTC on January 17, while its competitors BTC-E, Coinbase and itBit had trading volumes of 856 BTC, 512 BTC and 49 BTC respectively on the same day.

Kraken's CEO杰西•鲍威尔said the acquisition will further enhance Kraken's competitiveness and gradually achieve its goal of entering the global market.

Powell said:

“The integration of our three established exchanges represents our largest acquisition to date. Combined, we will have over 13 years of experience operating Bitcoin exchanges. Kraken has even bigger plans this year.”

As part of the acquisition agreement, customer accounts on the CAVirtex and Coinsetter platforms will be migrated to the Kraken platform on January 26. In addition, Kraken will also receive two employees to work at Kraken.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-kraken-coinsetter-acquired/
By Pete Rizzo
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/kraken-coinsetter)