Kraken announced yesterday that they have acquired the American Bitcoin wallet provider Glidera to their corporate umbrella.

Kraken Snatches Yet Another Startup

2016 has been a huge year for the Kraken bitcoin exchange, and they are looking to let the good times roll when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. Kraken added the resources of three major bitcoin exchanges, Coinsetter, Cavirtex and Clevercoin. Now, they have acquired the American Bitcoin wallet provider Glidera to their corporate umbrella.

“We’re thoroughly excited to merge with Kraken and bring even more value to our clients and partners,” said Dave Ripley, co-founder, and CEO of Glidera. “Kraken has built an incredible global platform and a talented team who share our view that partnerships are key to building the digital asset ecosystem.”

Since Glidera is U.S.-based, this will make it easier for Americans to fund their Kraken accounts through U.S. wire transfers. This will also simplify the ability to create a wallet and exchange account, and only require one account, instead of two, to use both services. Glidera will be rebranded under the name “Kraken Direct.”

Glidera’s U.S.-only funding service will be expanded to support many of the countries and national currencies worldwide now serviced by Kraken, including Europe, Japan, Canada, and the UK. Ethereum and Zcash, currencies available on Kraken but not Glidera, will now be available to Glidera users.

“This acquisition rounds out a fantastic year for Kraken,” shared Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken.

We’ve seen incredible growth throughout 2016 across all areas of our business.

“We’re looking forward to an even better 2017 with this acquisition and our new ‘Kraken Direct’ service playing a key role,” he added.

Buying Bitcoin Just Got Easier

Clients enjoy Glidera’s service because it enables secure one-click buying and selling of bitcoin straight from their favorite wallet via convenient ACH bank transfers. For American users who want the security of knowing that a third-party never takes control of their Bitcoins, Glidera has been a popular wallet choice since Glidera is “non-custodial” by design providing users with more control over their funds. It currently supports top wallets like Airbitz, Copay, Mycelium, and Multibit.

Glidera started in 2015, and this merger will also allow them to have further access to new clientele throughout the U.S., as even more states accept Kraken usage through regulation. Kraken accepts five different national currencies and eleven decentralized digital currencies. Bitcoinity ranks Kraken currently as the sixth-largest Bitcoin exchange in the world by volume over the last thirty days.

Will Kraken’s latest move bring more people to Bitcoin in the United States? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of shutterstock, kraken