Kraken bought Cryptowatch, a charting and trading platform popular with digital currency traders. The San Francisco exchange has pursued acquisitions as a path to expand globally, broaden its service
Kraken bought Cryptowatch, a charting and trading platform popular with digital currency traders. The San Francisco exchange has pursued acquisitions as a path to expand globally, broaden its service offerings, and recruit talented employees. Cryptowatch's charting interface now powers a new trading terminal on Kraken's platform.
Artus Sapek founded Cryptowatch and will stay on to develop both the platform and Kraken's trading interface. "In just two years, Cryptowatch grew into one of the pillars of the digital asset trading community," Sapek said. "Teaming up with an exchange was the natural next step, and Kraken was my first choice. The Kraken team has built a very mature and reliable exchange."
Thousands of traders chart more than 150 markets and trade up to 22 digital currencies on Cryptowatch. Its active user base grew 700% over two years.
Jesse Powell, who leads Kraken, said the company will invest more to improve Cryptowatch. "We've purposed the technology to provide a great new charting and trading platform to Kraken clients as the first step in improving our own interface. It's a great start to 2017 and I can't wait to share what else we've got in the pipeline," he said.
Kraken has made other significant acquisitions. The exchange absorbed Coinsetter from the United States, Cavirtex from Canada, and Clevercoin from the Netherlands. In December 2016, it acquired Glidera, a wallet funding service, which it plans to rebrand as Kraken Direct.
The pattern of growth through acquisition reflects broader industry trends. Since 2015, companies in the bitcoin industry have pursued more mergers and acquisitions. BitFury bought Allied Control, which specializes in thermal management systems, in January 2015. The Hong Kong exchange ANX acquired JustCoin from Norway and CoinMKT from the United States. Digital Asset Holdings bought both Hyperledger and Bits of Proofs in 2015. These deals show an industry consolidating and maturing.
Kraken started in 2011 and runs a platform where users trade 11 cryptocurrencies and four traditional currencies. The exchange commands the largest share of euro-denominated bitcoin trading volume and liquidity among global exchanges. Kraken was the first exchange to display its market data on Bloomberg Terminal and the first company to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit. Investors backing the company include SBI Investment, Money Partners Group, Hummingbird Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and Digital Currency Group.
