U.Due south.-based crypto commutation Kraken has acquired Australia'due south oldest crypto exchange.

In a recent evolution, Kraken announced its acquisition of Bit Trade, an Australia-based crypto commutation formed in 2022, in a Jan. 14 press release on Kraken's blog.

The Bit Trades website volition, for the time being, still operate every bit it does soon, a representative from Kraken clarified to Cointelegraph, including maintaining the existing staff. A representative said:

"In the short term, Flake Trade will proceed under its electric current make and operate business as usual.  Equally part of the acquisition we are pleased to welcome the Bit Trade squad led by Jonathon Miller who will exist Manager for Kraken in Commonwealth of australia."

Looking toward the outback

By bringing Bit Trade into the fold, Kraken will look to become the go-to crypto trading solution in Commonwealth of australia — a region that has shown meaning interest and expansion in the crypto space, the press release noted.

Kraken plans to host trading liquidity for Australia's dollar (AUD) and cater to retail and institutional players, the release added. Additionally, the conquering adds to Kraken'south over-the-counter (OTC) trading capabilities.

Meshing the ii operations

The acquisition will issue in i interface which harnesses multiple exchanges, giving customers an improved overall product, Kraken explained in its release.

Australian users can at present also access Kraken's sizable OTC market equally a effect of the Bit Merchandise purchase.

Kraken announced its buy of one of the well-nigh prominent OTC trading operations in the crypto space — Circumvolve's OTC desk-bound — in December 2022 every bit Circle shifted focus to its stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), according to a Cointelegraph report.