Kraken Launches Crypto Exchange Service in Australia

Kraken, one of the world's largest exchanges by trade volume, is extending its services Down Under.

The California-headquartered firm announced on Wednesday it would be opening operations in Sydney, Australia, with local clients able to fund their accounts in Australian dollars (AUD). The exchange said it would offer instant funding to those users who make deposits via Okso and PayID-enabled Australian bank accounts.

The new addition marks the seventh national currency in Kraken's fiat on-ramps, joining the U.S. dollar (USD), Canadian dollar (CAD), Swiss franc (CHF), the euro (EUR), British pound (GBP) and Japanese yen (JPY).

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“We’re thrilled to be launching Kraken Australia today at a time when Australian investors increasingly turn toward cryptocurrencies to diversify their portfolios,” said Jonathon Miller, managing director of Kraken Australia.

Users of Kraken Australia will be able to execute trades in AUD against popular cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (BTC) ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), XRP (XRP), bitcoin cash (BCH) and the tether (USDT) stablecoin. General users based outside the U.S. will also be able to trade AUD against USD, EUR and JPY.

Co-founded by Jesse Powell in 2011, Kraken established itself as one of the first major exchanges in the U.S. and currently offers the ability to trade in retail, spot, derivatives over-the-counter (OTC), margin and indices markets.

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According to Miller, retail investment in crypto has been on the rise with a record number of signups at Kraken since March. This has led the company to ramp up its employee base with 200 new workers to meet client demand.

Kraken acquired one of Australia's longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges, Bit Trade, in January 2020. Its CEO, Miller, was appointed to lead Kraken's operations in the nation at the time.