Industry Report: Kraken, Others Receive Large Investments

Want to see what’s new in the world of cryptocurrency? This week, we saw big investments coming into the Bitcoin ecosystem, notably a funding round from Kraken. Take a gander at some of the latest stories:

Also read: Hullcoin Leads This Week’s Digital Currency News

KRAKEN

It’s a week of investments for cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin exchange Kraken received a hefty sum during its Series B stage of financing from Money Partners Group in Tokyo, one of Japan’s leading foreign exchange brokerages. The firm holds nearly 300,000 clients and boasts a market cap of over $250 million. Kraken had also previously received a “multi-million dollar agreement” from Japanese capital firm SBI Investment last February.

Japan has had a rocky past with bitcoin granted its history with Mt. Gox and the arrest of Mark Karpeles, but the country is allegedly trying to recover from the dark stain on its financial past and move towards lighter ground, and Kraken is now serving as its fiscal partner.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell expressed enthusiasm regarding the investment, explaining:

“Our new relationship with Money Partners Group is a huge win for Bitcoin and Ethereum awareness and adoption around the world. The results we will achieve together will show other financial institutions why they should embrace digital assets and blockchain technologies.”

DIGIX

Gold-backed digital exchange Digix raised millions of dollars in just a matter of hours through an Ethereum blockchain crowdsale, purportedly the first of its kind. Funds will be used to create one of the first Decentralized Autonomous Organizations by DigixGlobal Ltd, which according to CryptoCoinsNews will, “employ a proof of asset (POA) protocol to back Digix tokens (DGX) with ’99.99% London Bullion market Association (LBMA) approved gold.’”

RUSSIA (again)

It seems like Russia’s stance on bitcoin and related currencies is really easing up. In our previous industry piece, we looked at how the nation was allegedly developing plans for a future digital currency that the country could declare all its own. Now, Russia is holding a cryptocurrency conference titled, “Electronic Currency in Light of Contemporary Legal and Economic Challenges.” The event is slated to invoke study of the problems cryptocurrency poses and how best to deal with them.

Among those invited to the conference include leading scientists and members of Parliament. Bitcoin entrepreneurs and representatives from the Russian Civic Chamber are also scheduled to make appearances.

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Images courtesy of digix.co.th & angel.co