Key Takeaways:
- Kraken has acquired Staked, a non-custodial staking platform.
- Since the beginning of the year, Kraken’s staking business has expanded by more than 950% reaching $16 billion in November.
Today, a cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, said that it had acquired Stack LLC, a non-custodial staking service provider.
Although the purchase price was not disclosed, Kraken branded it as one of the most significant crypto sector purchases to date.
Staked was founded in 2018 to enable investors to return from staking without giving up control of their crypto holdings. The service is marketed to institutional investors as operating the most secure, performant, and cost-effective block production nodes for decentralized point of sale protocols.
According to the business, Staked leverages multitier signing and listening node architecture to provide stakeholders with security, scalability, and decentralization. The service, used by major projects, investment funds, exchanges, custodians, and wallets, provides a highly available architecture that uses Kubernetes to spread across five clouds with automated failover.
With support for more than 30 assets and 15 more on the way, the company claims to offer the broadest asset coverage. Stacked claims that its technology maximizes rewards depending on each chain or product supporter’s specific dynamics. All staking, Defi lending, and reporting capabilities are accessible via an application programming interface, making integration simple.
Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital Partners LLC, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital Management LLC, CosenSys Software Inc., Digital Currency Group Inc., Celsius Lending LLC, Signia Venture Partners, and other prominent cryptocurrency firms are among Stack’s clients.
By expanding the number of supported networks and offering a non-custodial option to Kraken’s existing custodial staking service, the acquisition is believed to reinforce Kraken’s position as a leading provider of staking services to consumers and institutions.
“Staked is very complimentary to our existing staking business and will allow us to further expand our product offering through world-class infrastructure for clients who choose to keep custody of their staked assets,” said Jesse Powell, Kraken’s co-founder, and CEO.
Kraken’s fifth acquisition in 2021 is Staked. Spot, margin, and trade volumes have increased by more than 430% this year, while Kraken’s existing staking business has grown by more than 950% to roughly $16 billion in November.
According to Crunchbase, Staked had raised $4.5 million in venture capital funding before its acquisition. GlobalBrain, Fabric Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Pantera Capital, Visary Capital, and Blocktree Capital are some of the investors.
