Kraken Institutional launches custody services in UK and Australian cryptocurrency markets

Kraken Institutional, the specialized division serving institutional investors of US-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has announced the international expansion of its custody services in the UK and Australia.

This move marks its first foray after its initial launch earlier this year.

Kraken Custody Expansion

According to the official Press releaseInstitutional clients in the UK and Australia can use Kraken Custody to securely store, manage and transfer their crypto assets starting July 18.

Commenting on the platform's decision to expand its presence, Tim Ogilvie, Director at Kraken Institutional, said:

“Kraken has had a strong presence in the UK and Australia for a long time, so these were the primary destinations that Kraken Custody expanded into. Both markets have well-established institutional crypto scenes and we anticipate that the local launch of Kraken Custody will allow them to increase their participation in the asset class.”

Kraken Custody is operated through Kraken Financial, a US state-chartered bank that introduced qualified custody services in select US states in March of this year. In the new jurisdictions of the UK and Australia, Kraken Financial will directly provide custody services, ensuring funds and assets are kept separate from the exchange and accessible for withdrawal at any time.

Kraken Custody currently supports bitcoin (btc), ethereum (eth), and USDC (ERC20). The platform plans to add additional assets later this year.

Partnerships, IPOs and more

Earlier this week, Kraken announced its partnership with Atlético Madrid, a prominent Spanish football club. Starting with the upcoming La Liga season, scheduled for mid-August this year, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange will act as the club’s official cryptocurrency and Web3 partner, as well as its official wallet partner.

The primary goal of this partnership is to forge connections between the cryptocurrency industry and the sports arena with the aim of unlocking “significant opportunities” for Spanish football enthusiasts and Kraken’s user base alike.

Recent reports also indicated that Kraken is exploring the possibility of raising over $100 million in its final funding round before potentially launching an IPO.

Additionally, Kraken also launched its self-custodial mobile wallet, called “Kraken Wallet,” in April this year. This new wallet allows users to manage their tokens, nfts, and DeFi activities across multiple blockchains such as bitcoin, ethereum, Polygon, Dogecoin, Base, Solana, and Arbitrum.

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