The Dutch bitcoin exchange becomes the third market worldwide taken over by Kraken over the last 6 months. The terms of the purchase are yet undisclosed.

By this deal, Kraken strengthens its leading position among cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe. The company’s CEO Jesse Powell said that CleverCoin brand would no longer exist. Its clients will be automatically transferred to Kraken's platform on 29 June 2016, and have appropriate access to all its functions. From that day on, they will be trading at Kraken website using their account.

“In record time, the digital currency industry has matured. Our M&A plans have been accelerated by encouraging news throughout the industry. Prices are rising, the regulatory picture is rapidly clarifying, and clients from around the globe are joining us in record numbers. The acquisition of CleverCoin will empower Kraken with greater liquidity and a significantly expanded customer base in Europe, our flagship market,” Powell said in the statement.

The company’s CEO expects that CleverCoin acquisition will also boost Kraken’s euro trading pairs, which have already shown a rapid growth. Since the third week of April, the weekly trading volume in bitcoin-euro pair has seen fourfold increase and the ether-bitcoin pair (ETH/XBT) multiplied its volume ninefold.

Back in January, the acquisition of North-American exchanges Coinsetter and Cavirtex greatly raised Kraken’s average weekly trade volumes, including XBT/USD (13x increase), ETH/USD (30x increase) and XBT/CAD (50x increase).

Kraken was founded in 2011 in San Francisco and became the first bitcoin exchange with its market data displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal. Earlier this year, it gained massive financing from Japanese venture fund SBI Investment and a leading Japanese FX brokerage Money Partners Group.

CleverCoin, backed by venture capitalists Tima and Adam Draper, was one of the first exchanges in Western Europe to offer clients leveraged trading and establish regulated banking partnerships.

Ludmila Brus