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Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced the launch of regulated derivatives trading on its platform under the European Union\u2019s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).<\/p>\n
According to a May 20 announcement<\/a>, Kraken\u2019s perpetual and fixed maturity crypto futures contracts will be available for trading by retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area (EEA). The announcement follows the exchange acquiring an MiFID license in early February<\/a> through the acquisition of a Cypriot investment firm, approved by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/p>\n Kraken\u2019s head of exchange, Shannon Kurtas, said, \u201cEurope is one of the fastest-growing regions for digital asset trading and investment, with some of the most sophisticated and demanding clients and institutions.\u201d <\/p>\n He added, \u201cClients and partners increasingly seek comprehensive offerings within a regulated framework.\u201d<\/p>\n Kraken had not responded to Cointelegraph\u2019s request for comment by publication.<\/p>\n Kurtas said that following the deployment of the new derivatives products, \u201cthey [users] can seamlessly trade futures as part of a full suite of products\u201d on the platform.<\/p>\n Derivatives, he said, will improve \u201ccapital efficiency, access to liquidity, reliability and enable sophisticated strategies and position management.\u201d Kraken\u2019s derivatives will be offered through a Cyprus-based MiFID II-regulated entity, Payward Europe Digital Solutions. <\/p>\n The launch follows Kraken completing its acquisition of the futures trading platform<\/a> NinjaTrader earlier this month, as its first quarter revenue jumped 19% year-on-year to $471.7 million.<\/p>\n Recently, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his firm will continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities<\/a>, after acquiring crypto derivatives platform Deribit. The comments came after the publicly listed US crypto exchange earlier this month agreed to acquire Deribit<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s biggest crypto derivatives trading platforms.<\/p>\n Major crypto exchange Gemini has also recently received regulatory approval to expand crypto derivatives trading across Europe<\/a>. Gemini\u2019s head of Europe, Mark Jennings, said in a May 9 statement:<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we commence business activities, we will be able to offer regulated derivatives throughout the EU and EEA [European Economic Area] under MiFID II.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Decentralized finance platform Synthetix also plans to venture further into crypto derivatives<\/a> with plans to re-acquire the crypto options platform Derive. The transaction is subject to approval from both the Synthetix and Derive communities.<\/p>\nRelease the Kraken<\/h2>\n
Crypto derivatives see lots of activity<\/h2>\n