Global digital asset exchange Kraken is pleased to announce the acquisition of the award-winning wallet funding service Glidera (https://www.glidera.io). Chicago-based Glidera is the world’s first non-custodial buying and selling service for wallets that has grown quickly since its launch in 2015 to integrate with 10 of the top bitcoin wallets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kraken has fueled rapid growth in 2016 through landmark M&A deals acquiring the 3 major bitcoin exchanges Coinsetter, Cavirtex and Clevercoin. The acquisition of Glidera reinforces Kraken’s commitment to mutually beneficial consolidation in the digital asset space and marks the brand’s first step towards a global ecosystem of complementary services clustered around its core exchange business. In addition to using Kraken for leveraged margin trading and exchange between 11 digital assets and 5 national currencies worldwide, the acquisition means that clients will soon be able to experience direct one-click buying and selling of bitcoin and other digital assets via convenient payments like ACH transfers.

In the announcement, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell outlined plans to bring Glidera under Kraken’s global umbrella and the benefits for clients as one service inherits strengths from the other. Effective immediately Glidera’s service is being expanded to support most US states (most of the US states already supported by Kraken).

Future benefits as the integration proceeds include:

• Kraken exchange clients in the US will enjoy the added convenience of ACH bank payments to fund their trading accounts – currently offered through Glidera for wallet funding
• The ability to access both the wallet funding service and the exchange service via a single account
• Glidera will be rebranded under the name ‘Kraken Direct’
• Glidera’s funding service, currently available in the US only, will be expanded to support many of the countries and national currencies worldwide now serviced by Kraken, including Europe (EUR), Japan (JPY), Canada (CAD), and the UK (GBP)
• Glidera will add wallet funding support for some of the popular alternative digital assets that Kraken currently offers for exchange, such as Ethereum and Zcash
• Glidera clients will have access to the same highly-rated 24/7/365 support and live chat currently available to Kraken exchange clients

“This acquisition rounds out a fantastic year for Kraken,” said 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.”

Dave Ripley, co-founder and CEO of Glidera, also shared some thoughts on the acquisition: “We’re thoroughly excited to merge with Kraken and bring even more value to our clients and partners.  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.”

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. Clients have added peace of mind knowing that Glidera never takes custody of their funds during the process. Glidera currently supports around 10 of the top wallets including Airbitz, Copay, Mycelium and Multibit, with many more in the development pipeline.

Wallet developers find integration with Glidera an easy choice since Glidera provides a funding bridge to the traditional financial system through a reliable API interface and manages all of the legal and compliance aspects so developers can just focus on development. Glidera also offers an attractive revenue-sharing program, providing a continual stream of revenue instead of the one-time sign-up bonus from other services.