Kraken Acquires Dutch Bitcoin Exchange CleverCoin

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Bitcoin exchange Kraken has announced the acquisition of Dutch bitcoin exchange CleverCoin. to its expansion after previously acquiring New York-based Coinsetter and Canadian bitcoin exchange CAVirtex earlier this year.

San Francisco-based bitcoin exchange Kraken has acquired CleverCoin, a Dutch bitcoin exchange based in Eindhoven. The acquisition is only the latest addition to Kraken’s growing presence globally, having acquired New York-based Coinsetter and Canadian exchange CAVirtex in January this year.

CleverCoin will halt its services tomorrow, June 29th, before migrating all user accounts and funds to the Kraken platform in a process that is expected to take a few hours.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell spoke about the acquisition at a time when prices of cryptocurrencies are rising, stating his intent to expand Kraken’s services across Europe, its primary market.

“Our M&A plans have been accelerated by encouraging news throughout the industry,” he stated. “Prices are rising, the regulatory picture is rapidly clarifying, and clients from around the globe are joining us in record numbers.”

He added:

The acquisition of CleverCoin will empower Kraken with greater liquidity and a significantly expanded customer base in Europe, our flagship market.

For CleverCoin’s founders, the acquisition of their company by one of their biggest rivals in the region will see them leave to provide IT business solutions, away from the cryptocurrency industry.

“Kraken is the ideal custodian for CleverCoin going forward,” CleverCoin CTO and co-founder Karsten Nilsen said. Former CEO and co-founder Christian de Kok added that since 2013 when CleverCoin was founded, its services in the region were only rivalled by those of Kraken.

In February this year, Kraken also revealed an undisclosed “multi-million dollar agreement” in the form of an investment from Japanese leading venture capital firm, SBI Investment. More recently, a Series B round of financing in Japan in April 2016 saw Kraken gain further ground in the country.

It’s likely that the investment in Japan will help push Kraken’s services in Japan as a digital currency exchange, enabling further adoption of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, Ethereum’s token currency, in the country.

The terms of Kraken’s acquisition of CleverCoin remain undisclosed.

Via: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/kraken-acquires-dutch-bitcoin-exchange-clevercoin/

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