Kraken to Provide Pricing Data for New CME Group Bitcoin Products

One of six exchanges chosen to supplement daily pricing data
One of six exchanges chosen to supplement daily pricing data

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – May 3, 2016 – Kraken, one of the most trusted global bitcoin and digital assets exchanges, has been selected as a key supplier of market data for reference and real-time bitcoin price indices being launched later this year by the CME Group - joint operator of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average and one of the world's largest options and futures exchanges.

Kraken’s market data was previously recognized as a reliable standard in 2014, when it became the first bitcoin exchange to provide complete price and volume data to the Bloomberg Terminal.

CME Group, in collaboration with Crypto Facilities Ltd, will launch the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) and the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index (RTI) in the fourth quarter of 2016, a significant step in the developing use of cryptocurrency in the derivative market.  

CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, said his company is perfectly equipped to furnish the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate and Real Time Index immediately upon roll-out.   

“We are proud to provide accurate, reliable, real-time data for the world’s leading derivatives marketplace. It is critical for traders to have a fully credible and reliable reference rate source around the clock, and Kraken is proud to provide our data.”

CME Group’s BRR will aggregate the trade flow of major bitcoin spot exchanges during a specific calculation window into a once-a-day, transparent reference rate of the US dollar price of bitcoin.

The RTI will be calculated by Crypto Facilities and will be based on global demand to buy and sell bitcoin aggregated into a consolidated order book. It will reflect the current market price of bitcoin in US dollar terms and will be published approximately once every second.

Kraken recently received a Series B investment from leading Japanese foreign exchange brokerage Money Partners Group, who are listed on the 1st Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This year, Kraken has seen new customer accounts quadruple, a ten-fold increase in bitcoin/USD trading, a thirty-fold increase in bitcoin/CAD trading, and a fifteen-fold increase in bitcoin/JPY trading.

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Kraken CEO Jesse Powell is available for interview.

About Kraken

Based in San Francisco, Kraken is the world’s largest global bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity. Kraken’s clients also trade US dollars, Canadian dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen and other digital currencies on a platform consistently rated the best and most secure bitcoin exchange by independent news media.

Founded in 2011, Kraken was the first bitcoin exchange to have its market data displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal, the first to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit, a partner in the first cryptocurrency bank, and one of the first exchanges to offer leveraged bitcoin margin trading. Kraken is trusted by hundreds of thousands of traders, institutions, and authorities across the world, from Toyko’s court-appointed trustee to Germany’s BaFin regulated Fidor Bank. In January 2016, Kraken announced that it was acquiring prominent bitcoin exchanges Coinsetter and Cavirtex to expand into American and Canadian markets.

Kraken is backed by investors including SBI Investment, Money Partners Group, Hummingbird Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and Digital Currency Group, among others.

Press Contact:

Christina Yee

Chief Brand Officer

415-323-3402

[email protected]