Kraken raises $11.9 million on BanktotheFuture investment platform

According to a page on Banktothefuture, Kraken has raised $11.9 million from 2263 investors on BnktotheFuture an online investment platform. It was aiming to raise $13 million.

Kraken has over $85 billion in trade volume in 2018 with 4 million clients spread across nearly 200 countries. The exchange is expanding into and providing additional financial services and products for the crypto industry.

BF created a Special Purpose Vehicle to receive equity indirectly from the 2,245 investors – in what is known as an illiquid investment. The SPV then pools all the individual funders and acts as a single capital investor. This technique allows Kraken to bypass the SEC requirement that force it register as a public company under the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act.

These investors are therefore not shareholders of Kraken, and will only realize a return if Kraken floats its shares through an IPO, is purchased through another organization, or if the undergoes a Management Buy-Out.

To register for the BF platform all investors must either prove they have incomes over $200,000 for the past two years, a combined income with a partner of $300,000 over the past two years, or have a net worth of over $1 million. They must also comply with local KYC regulations.

BF charges a 5 percent fee – paid up front in the share price – and can expect another 5 percent when investors cash out, a 5 percent charge on any future dividends, and a 2.5 percent fee to sell their stock on Kraken’s secondary market.