Kraken Institutional Launches Custody Services in UK and Australian Crypto Markets

Kraken Institutional, the institutional division of US-based crypto exchange Kraken, has announced the international expansion of its custody services to the UK and Australia.

The move marks the company's first venture since its initial launch earlier this year.

Kraken Custody Expansion

According to an official press release, institutional investors in the UK and Australia will be able to use Kraken Custody to securely store, manage and transfer their crypto assets from July 18th.

Commenting on the decision to expand the platform’s footprint, Tim Ogilvie, head of institutional trading at Kraken, said:

“Kraken has long had a strong presence in the UK and Australia, so these were the two primary destinations for us to expand Kraken Custody. Both markets have established institutional crypto scenes and we expect the local launch of Kraken Custody will allow us to strengthen our engagement in these asset classes.”

Kraken Custody is offered through Kraken Financial, a US-chartered bank which introduced qualified custody services in some US states in March this year. In the new jurisdictions of the UK and Australia, Kraken Financial will provide custody services directly, ensuring funds and assets are held separately from the exchange and available for withdrawal at any time.

Currently, Kraken Custody supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDC (ERC20), and the platform plans to incorporate additional assets later this year.

Partnerships, IPOs, and more

Earlier this week, Kraken announced a partnership with Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid. Starting with the start of this year's La Liga season, scheduled for mid-August, the US-based crypto exchange will serve as the club's Official Crypto and Web3 Partner, as well as Official Sleeve Partner.

The main aim of the partnership is to build a bridge between the cryptocurrency and sports industries, with a focus on bringing “great opportunities” to both Spanish football fans and Kraken’s user base.

Recent reports suggest that Kraken is considering potentially raising more than $100 million in its final fundraising round before launching an IPO.

Additionally, Kraken also launched a self-custodial mobile wallet called “Kraken Wallet” in April this year. This new wallet allows users to transact tokens, NFTs and DeFi activity across a range of blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Dogecoin, Base, Solana and Arbitrum.