Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading venues in the world, has acquired bitcoin wallet funding service Glidera for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition means that Kraken clients will soon be able to experience direct one-click buying and selling of cryptocurrencies via traditional bank payments like ACH transfers.
Chicago-based Glidera will be rebranded as ‘Kraken Direct’ and its funding service, currently available in the US only, will be expanded in the future to support more national currencies serviced by Kraken, including EUR, JPY, CAD, GBP. Under the new ownership Glidera will also add wallet funding support for some of the alternative cryptocurrencies that Kraken currently offers for exchange, such as Ethereum and Zcash.
“This acquisition rounds out a fantastic year for Kraken,” said Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken. “We’ve seen incredible growth throughout 2016 across all areas of our business. We’re looking forward to an even better 2017 with this acquisition and our new ‘Kraken Direct’ service playing a key role.”
Dave Ripley, co-founder and CEO of Glidera, added: “We’re thoroughly excited to merge with Kraken and bring even more value to our clients and partners. Kraken has built an incredible global platform and a talented team who share our view that partnerships are key to building the digital asset ecosystem.”
This is the fourth known acquisition for Kraken in 2016. In June it has taken over Netherlands-based bitcoin exchange CleverCoin, less than six months after Kraken acquired both Coinsetter and Cavirtex and entered the US and Canadian markets.
(Photo: Kraken)
