Series of Acquisitions and Hires
These past few weeks have seen multiple instances of acquisition and hiring within the blockchain industry. Despite the prevalence of an extended bear market, development has never proceeded better for many.
Kraken acquires Crypto Facilities
This week, Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities, in a deal that is rumoured to be north of $100 million. This deal marks not only the biggest of the past week, but the biggest of 2019.
This acquisition by Kraken was undertaken due to one major reason – acceleration of their roadmap. By acquiring Crypto Facilities, Kraken now gains the ability to offer a variety of new services. These include the ability to not only spot trade, but the ability to open futures on cryptocurrencies.
Kraken has identified, and is pushing, the following 6 perks of trading futures.
- Hedge Price Risk
- Speculate on Market Direction
- Stabilize Price Fluctuations
- Trade Crypto without Holding
- Futures contracts details
- Leverage up to 50x on futures orders
To gain the appropriate licensure to offer such services is a tedious and lengthy task. With these already being goals of Kraken, they are now able to bypass the entire licensure process by absorbing an entity that already went through it.
Kraken CEO, Jesse Powell, has stated that the entire staff of Crypto Facilities will be retained, bringing the Kraken development team to over 100 strong.
Kraken
Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange, based out of San Francisco. The company was founded in 2011, and is spearheaded by CEO, Jesse Powell.
In the time since inception, Kraken has gone on to become one of the most trusted, and well known exchanges around the world.
Facebook Hires Chainspace Staff
Facebook has announced the acquisition of various Chainspace staff, in an expansion of their in-house blockchain team.
It is no secret that Facebook has a dedicated team working on various blockchain projects. They currently have various blockchain related positions open on their site. This, however, marks the first time they have acquired an outside help directly related to the blockchain industry.
The difference between this move and Krakens, is that Facebook is hiring talent. While Kraken will be gaining access to the services and tech of Crypto Facilities, Facebook is not acquiring Chainspace technology.
It is believed that this move is one of many to come. With the resources available to Facebook, they have the potential to acquire just about anyone they want, if they feel it will help them achieve their goals.
BAKKT acquires Rosenthal Collins Group Assets
Although the announcement of this acquisition occurred weeks ago, the deal was only made official days ago. This acquisition will see the much anticipated BAKKT platform gain experience applicable to AML and KYC hurdles.
Wearing a Target
Each of these companies have been the target of government interest over the past year – for very different reasons mind-you. Facebook has had to deal with government inquiries pertaining to their data leaks. Kraken has had to deal with multiple subpoenas for operations information.
Clearly, despite this government interest, neither has been hampered in their operations. While Kraken is making $100 million acquisitions in the midst of a bear market, Facebook continues to see non-stop growth and market domination.
