Kraken crypto exchange opening up shop in UAE

Kraken crypto exchange posted two job openings on LinkedIn within the last four months. The most recent job posting was for a managing director post in Abu Dhabi and the one prior was for a chief compliance officer.

Kraken which is one of the top 50 crypto exchanges by trade volume seems to opening up shop in the UAE in a bid to become one of the regulated crypto exchanges within the country. While no official statements have been made in this regard, the job positions on offer show that there is action being taken. 

The responsibilities mentioned in the posting include overseeing overall success of Kraken within the UAE market, providing leadership and guidance to the Kraken UAE team and interacting with UAE regulators as necessary to ensure appropriate regulatory standing and compliance.

Kraken currently has 4 million clients and has traded $140 billion in digital assets since its launch in 2011. At the end of 2018 Kraken carried out a funding round that would value the company at $4 billion. Then in February Kraken acquired Futures Trading startup Crypto facilities that would enable Kraken customers to trade spot as well as open positions offering exposure to the future price movements of cryptocurrencies in a unified trading interface. This allowed them to quickly offer services in Europe rather than spending years to obtain licenses and approvals.