Former managing Director of UK-based crypto exchange , Kevin Beardsley, has joined Kraken, one of the world’s longest-operating cryptocurrency platforms, to lead its futures business development.
Formerly , Kraken Futures is a London-based financial services firm that provides FCA-regulated risk management and trading solutions for digital assets. Now operating as Kraken’s spot derivatives platform, the company was bought in a deal values it in the nine figure range.
Kraken said the deal helped volumes double by $1 billion to $2.5 billion last month as the new arm enables its eligible clients to gain access to futures on six cryptocurrency pairs, providing a unique instrument to trade and hedge cryptocurrencies.
Kraken transformed into a global crypto powerhouse
During his two-year tenure, he was tasked with growing the client base for Elliptic Vault, which offers investment funds and publicly listed firms storage services for Bitcoin holdings.
Before that, Beardsley was Director of Membership at the , a non-profit association that coordinates the efforts of Bitcoin industry participants, where he served for most of 2014.
Beardsley left B2C2 last year to join a newly-incorporated firm called Elwood Asset Management where he was in charge of investment plans related to crypto assets. His move to the asset manager came as several mainstream finance firms aim to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies or, at least, navigate blockchain industry. Some big banks are also considering whether to start a trading desk to make markets in digital currencies.
Over the past two years, has transformed itself into a global crypto powerhouse, establishing its strong presence in both the US and European Bitcoin markets. Once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the Europe, Kraken has been also a strong contender in the US market.
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