Top American crypto exchange Kraken has entered an agreement to acquire Netherlands based crypto broker Coin Meester B.V (BCM).
The acquisition will strengthen Kraken’s presence in the Netherlands and allow BCM’s clients to benefit from Kraken’s extensive product offering, market-leading liquidity, superior security standards and 24/7/365 live client support.
One of the Netherlands’ oldest crypto exchanges, BCM was founded in 2017. It enables users to buy, sell, and stake crypto assets, with access to over 170 crypto assets and strong local funding base. Kraken CEO David Ripley said the Netherlands is a strategic place for the exchange in Europe, hence the acquisition.
“The Netherlands has one of the world’s most advanced economies, with a well established culture of innovation and a high level of crypto adoption. This makes it a key market for us in our European expansion plans,” said Ripley. “The acquisition of BCM will give Kraken a sizable position in the Dutch market and will allow BCM’s clients to benefit from an even more robust product offering,” he added.
Kraken is one of the leading crypto exchanges in the U.S. and the world at large. One of the oldest exchanges ever, Kraken has the reputation of unmatched security, as it has never been breached in any way despite how old it is.
Also commenting on the acquisition, BCM Co-founder and CEO Mitchell Zandwijken said Kraken is the perfect company to take over its business, considering its many years of experience in the crypto space.
“We founded BCM because we wanted to make crypto accessible to everyone. Kraken is the pioneer in this field with a track record spanning well over a decade, making it the perfect steward of our business going forward. Our clients will benefit from all that crypto has to offer through Kraken’s continuous investment and innovation,” Zandwijken siad.
MiCA Attracts Kraken
Despite Kraken’s many years of operation, the exchange has been reluctant about entering the Netherlands. However, it has decided to enter the region with the acquisition of BCM because of the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework.
The new framework allows industry players to confidently invest in the region and provide consumers access to more competitive products and services. This perfectly suites Kraken because it already has a number of regulatory licenses in the region.
The exchange already has VASP registrations in Ireland, Italy and Spain, and is actively pursuing registration in other European markets.
“The European market for crypto services is highly fragmented and we see significant opportunities for consolidation to strengthen our position in the region,” Ripley said. “We’ll continue to invest in the expansion of our European business and are well positioned to capitalize on the opportunity for further growth in the years ahead. We have a very compelling value proposition and look forward to serving even more clients across Europe.”
The Netherlands and Crypto Regulation
Prior to the introduction of MiCA, the Netherlands was known for its strictness towards crypto. Because of its tough regulatory conditions for crypto exchanges, the world’s biggest crypto exchange by market capitalization, Binance had to withdraw its services to Dutch users.
With the coming of MiCA, there is a unified regulation for all European markets, which Binance described as crypto-friendly. This brings hope that even Binance could return to the Netherlands in the near future.
