Kraken expands in Europe with regulated crypto derivatives

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced the launch of regulated derivatives trading on its platform under the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

According to a May 20 announcement, Kraken’s perpetual and fixed maturity crypto futures contracts will be available for trading by retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area (EEA). The announcement follows the exchange acquiring an MiFID license in early February through the acquisition of a Cypriot investment firm, approved by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kraken’s head of exchange, Shannon Kurtas, said, “Europe is one of the fastest-growing regions for digital asset trading and investment, with some of the most sophisticated and demanding clients and institutions.”

He added, “Clients and partners increasingly seek comprehensive offerings within a regulated framework.”

Release the Kraken

Kurtas said that following the deployment of the new derivatives products, “they [users] can seamlessly trade futures as part of a full suite of products” on the platform.

Derivatives, he said, will improve “capital efficiency, access to liquidity, reliability and enable sophisticated strategies and position management.” Kraken’s derivatives will be offered through a Cyprus-based MiFID II-regulated entity, Payward Europe Digital Solutions.

The launch follows Kraken completing its acquisition of the futures trading platform NinjaTrader earlier this month, as its first quarter revenue jumped 19% year-on-year to $471.7 million.

Crypto derivatives see lots of activity

Recently, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his firm will continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities, after acquiring crypto derivatives platform Deribit. The comments came after the publicly listed US crypto exchange earlier this month agreed to acquire Deribit, one of the world’s biggest crypto derivatives trading platforms.

Major crypto exchange Gemini has also recently received regulatory approval to expand crypto derivatives trading across Europe. Gemini’s head of Europe, Mark Jennings, said in a May 9 statement:

“Once we commence business activities, we will be able to offer regulated derivatives throughout the EU and EEA [European Economic Area] under MiFID II.”

Decentralized finance platform Synthetix also plans to venture further into crypto derivatives with plans to re-acquire the crypto options platform Derive. The transaction is subject to approval from both the Synthetix and Derive communities.

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