Crypto exchange Kraken acquires Crypto Facilities

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken just closed its biggest acquisition to date. The company is buying Crypto Facilities in a nine-figure deal.

Crypto Facilities is an exchange and index provider regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. In particular, Crypto Facilities lets you trade futures on multiple cryptocurrency pairs.

Following this acquisition, some Kraken users can now access both spot and futures trading. The company also has an OTC service for large orders. Futures are limited to six pairs for now.

Kraken currently has 4 million users who traded the equivalent of $90 billion in 2018. In the past, the company had acquired smaller exchanges, such as Coinsetter, Cavirtex and CleverCoin, as well as Glidera and Cryptowatch. While Coinbase is quite popular in the U.S., Kraken has been popular with European customers. It has a large volume of orders in EUR.

Fortune also reports that Kraken is about to close a $100 million funding round. Instead of raising from traditional VC funds, the company has emailed its most loyal customers for this new funding round.

According to Fortune, this unusual path provides multiple advantages. For instance, the company doesn’t have to register the round with the SEC. Kraken has been working exclusively with accredited investors or foreign investors that are covered by an exemption.

I’d love to see the list of investors, but it’s clear that Kraken wants to stay secretive with this funding round.