Digital Currency Exchange Kraken Acquires Bitcoin Buying Service

San Francisco-based digital currency exchange has acquired wallet funding service Glidera.

The acquisition of Glidera, the terms of which were not disclosed, is the latest for Kraken, which has spent the past year snapping up other startups in the exchange space.

In January, Kraken announced that it had bought New York-based exchange Coinsetter, which itself had moved to acquire CAVirtex in April 2015. In June, the exchange expanded its European footprint when it announced the purchase of CleverCoin, based in the Netherlands.

As part of the integration of the two services, Glidera – which enables users to purchase bitcoin via their bank accounts and send the funds to the wallet of their choice – will be rebranded under the name “Kraken Direct”. The service offered by Glidera will, by extension, be open to Kraken’s international customers as well.

In a statement, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said that the deal “rounds out a fantastic year for Kraken”.

He went on to say:

“We’ve seen incredible growth throughout 2016 across all areas of our business. We’re looking forward to an even better 2017 with this acquisition and our new ‘Kraken Direct’ service playing a key role.”

The global exchange saw acquisitions elsewhere this year, including the purchase of BitInvest by Brazil-based Foxbit. In February, Finnish bitcoin broker Prasos announced that it had bought Coinmotion for an undisclosed amount.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Kraken.

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