Kraken, the crypto exchange, has unveiled a new arm dedicated to serving institutions, as it vies for a portion of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) market.
The announcement, made on February 27th, merges Kraken’s existing institutional services of spot and over-the-counter trading, alongside crypto staking (for clients outside the United States).
It is primarily geared towards asset managers, hedge funds, and high-net-worth individuals.
Tim Ogilvie, co-founder of Staked and now heading Kraken Institutional following the acquisition of his firm in December 2021, stated, “Institutional adoption of crypto is growing rapidly,” attributing this growth to the recent ETF approval.
“The recent ETF approval has spurred broader institutional demand,” Ogilvie added.
Since their launch in January, the nine new Bitcoin ETFs have collectively attracted $6 billion in inflows, averaging a daily inflow of $196 million, and have recently achieved a new daily volume record of $2.4 billion.
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Grayscale’s ETF has witnessed significant outflows, but other funds have balanced this with their inflows, with BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s ETFs taking the lead.
Coinbase serves as the custodian for eight out of the ten newly introduced Bitcoin ETFs, prompting some analysts to foresee substantial earnings for the company in the coming year. Kraken appears poised to compete for a share of this lucrative market.
In a blog post on February 27th, Ogilvie outlined that Kraken Institutional will introduce a “qualified custody” service supported by Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution.
Kraken Institutional is set to rival Coinbase Institutional and Coinbase Prime, both established in 2021 to cater to institutional investors.
It will also contend with Binance Institutional, launched in mid-2022, which offers tailored solutions for institutional users, including asset managers, brokers, hedge funds, family offices, liquidity providers, and proprietary trading firms.
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