Kraken, a digital asset firm, announced that it had acquired Staked’s non-custodial stake platform for an undisclosed amount. While the sum of the purchase was not disclosed, the company claims that it was “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date.”
Kraken Acquires Non-Custodial Staking Firm Staked
Kraken, which specializes in providing proof-of-stake networks to people, announced its acquisition of Staked on December 21. “Staked helps investors earn yield from staking and defi without taking custody of their crypto assets,” the firm’s website explains. Kraken ranks among the top crypto exchanges in terms of both trade volume and digital asset reserve.
According to data from Bituniverse and Chain.info, Peckshield, Chain.info and Etherscan on global crypto-asset reserve data, Kraken ranks fourth in terms of current reserves. The data shows Kraken currently holds $15.81 trillion in digital assets. This includes more than 102,000 bitcoins (BTC) as well as 2.27 million ethereums (ETH) at December 22. Kraken intends to continue to provide staking services to institutions and consumers, as well as to individuals.
“We are excited to add Staked to our portfolio of yield products, which has seen great uptake by a growing population of crypto investors,” Jesse Powell, the CEO and co-founder of Kraken remarked about the announcement. “Staked is highly complementary to our existing staking business and will allow us to further strengthen our product offering through world-class infrastructure for clients who prefer to retain custody of their staked assets,” Powell added.
Staked explains in its 2021 third-quarter report that “Q3 was an absolute banner quarter for PoS crypto assets.” The report goes on to explain that there were four PoS assets in the top ten in Q3, and 28 PoS crypto assets in the top 100 coins by market capitalization. “The market cap of the top 35 PoS assets represented 30% of the total crypto market capitalization as of [September 30],” Staked wrote at the time. “Marking the first time PoS assets have accounted for [more than] 25% of the total crypto market cap,” the report adds.
The acquisition of Staked makes it Kraken’s fifth acquisition in 2021, according to the announcement on Tuesday. Kraken also noted that the company’s trade volume across spot, margin, and futures grew by 430% this year. “Kraken’s acquisition of Staked represents an exciting new chapter for us,” Tim Ogilvie, the CEO of Staked said in a statement. Kraken is not alone in making acquisitions. Coinbase acquired many startups in 2021.
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