Kraken expands crypto institutional services to UK, Australia

CRYPTO exchange Kraken’s recently launched institutional business unit has begun offering custody services to customers in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Kraken Institutional is designed for users such as hedge funds and exchange-traded fund issuers and was launched in the US by the San Francisco-area-based firm in March. The private company expects to expand its services to more locations such as the European Union, Switzerland, Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.

The majority of locations “where Kraken exchange does business will be covered by the end of the year”, Tim Ogilvie, head of Kraken Institutional, said.

Kraken’s trading services for retail and other users are already available worldwide. The exchange has been providing Bitcoin/British pound trading pair since 2014, and has about 40 per cent share of pound-denominated spot trading volumes, according to the company. Its newly launched Kraken Institutional offers large users more control and functionality, and is beginning its international expansion with its qualified custody offering. Overseas rivals include Copper and Coinbase Global.

The rollout comes as Kraken expands its array of offerings and markets while mulling an initial public offering (IPO). The firm has been in talks for a pre-IPO fund-raising round and would like to go public as soon as next year, Bloomberg reported earlier. BLOOMBERG