Kraken tries to ‘stay on the edge of crypto,’ in the face of competition

Just yesterday, Huobi Global announced the trial of its NFT marketplace. Meanwhile, Coinbase had activated a waitlist for its upcoming marketplace launch earlier last month. As the NFT interest doesn’t seem to be dying, how’s Kraken faring against this competition, remains an important question.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Jesse Powell, Kraken co-founder, and CEO spoke about where the exchange is headed when it faces competition from Coinbase among other platforms. Powell said,

“We’ve got a Skunk Works NFT project of our own. So we’re really trying to stay on the bleeding edge of crypto.”

Apart from that, Kraken’s CEO stated that the company is ‘going deeper into crypto with a wide offering for staking of cryptocurrencies.’ He also added

“We’re supporting parachain auctions.”

Coinbase Vs Kraken

It is noteworthy that both Kraken and Coinbase offer more than 80 crypto assets while allowing staking to earn interest. However, what has come as a reveal is- Kraken’s decision to enter the traditional financial services space. The crypto exchange will do that through its banking license in Wyoming.

“So we’re getting more into traditional financial services such as stock trading, banking services, you know, maybe even small loans at some point.”

But, Powell reiterated that these are smaller projects as they are “experts in the cryptocurrency business.”

Having said that, Coinbase has meanwhile announced an acquisition in a new territory. It is set to acquire Agara, an AI-powered support platform with operations in India and the United States. With this, Coinbase has set foot for the first time in India’s start-up market.

Meanwhile, in another announcement, Kraken is reportedly ready for listing the rallying meme coin, Shiba Inu (SHIB), later on, 2 November. Something Coinbase had done previously in September.

Regulation-related halt

In terms of regulations, the Kraken chief said,

“Our regulators in the United States don’t seem interested in really clarifying anything for us.”

Not so long back, Coinbase had landed in trouble with the U.S. regulators before the launch of its ‘Lend’ product. In the context of listed tokens, Kraken is fairly confident. Powell said,

“We have a very thorough legal review before we list something. So if you see it available in the United States, we’re fairly confident that that asset is not a security.”

In the United States, both exchanges do not qualify for fund protection by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”).

What’s upcoming is a possibly more stringent set of guidelines for the exchanges. In a regulatory report published recently, PWG along with regulators like FDIC had outlined risks of digital asset trading platforms that depend on stablecoins to facilitate borrowing, lending, and trading. Therefore, new recommendations can require the exchanges to make changes to their existing business plans.