Kraken Gains Series B Investment, Pushes Bitcoin Services & Ethereum in Japan
One of the largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Kraken, has announced an investment from a leading Japanese foreign exchange brokerage, in the exchange’s Series B round of financing.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced an investment from Tokyo-based Money Partners Group as a part of its Series B round of financing, in a press release today.
Money Partners Group holds a market cap of over $260 million and is among the leading foreign exchange brokerages in Japan with over 270,000 client networks. The terms of the investment were not disclosed.
This would mark the second investment from a Japanese firm in Kraken’s Series B round of financing after the exchange revealed a “multi-million dollar agreement” with Japan’s leading venture capital firm SBI Investment in Feb 2016.
Bitcoin & Ethereum Makes Gains
Beyond its investment with Kraken, Money Partners Group has also announced a business alliance which the cryptocurrency exchange. The alliance will see over 270,000 client networks belonging to Money Partners Group enabled with bitcoin trading & settlement services along with blockchain-based derivative trading to its clients.
In statements via a press release, Money Partners Group president and representative director Taizen Okuyama stated:
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology will bring about a future in which digital and digitized assets are commonplace…The movements behind Bitcoin and Ethereum have grown too large to ignore.
The comment from the president of one of Japan’s largest FX brokerages underlines the prominence gained by cryptocurrencies, chief among them Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Following the capture of the exchange’s latest investor, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell stated:
Our new relationship with Money Partners Group is a huge win for Bitcoin and Ethereum awareness and adoption around the world. The results we will achieve together will show other financial institutions why they should embrace digital assets and blockchain technologies.
Kraken – A Monster Like its Namesake
Kraken became one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world following its acquisition of North American bitcoin exchanges Coinsetter and CavirtEx, earlier in January 2016. The acquisitions directly led to Kraken’s expansion in the North American continent, gaining a foothold in the United States and Canada through the two exchanges existing presence.
Kraken has revealed that it has seen a 4x rise in new client accounts following its expansion into North America, compared to new accounts Q4 2015.
The exchange also revealed the following figures in its press release:
- 10x increase in Bitcoin-USD swaps, i.e. XBT/USD
- 30x increase in Bitcoin-Canadian Dollar swaps, XBT/CAD.
- 15x increase in Bitcoin-Japanese Yen swaps, XBT/JPY.
- 5x increase in Bitcoin-Sterling Pound swaps, XBT/GBP.
- Ethereum trading had also increased 5x in Q1 2016.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
