Kraken buys OTC Desk from Circle

In a press release posted on their official website, Cricle announced the sale of OTC Desk to Kraken.

Co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire both worte in a statement the following "our sharpened 2020 focus is supported by several recent changes in Circle’s business and organization. Focusing effectively on stablecoin platforms means we must reduce complexity, tighten our product portfolio, and organize our teams to execute with greater agility".

They added "we’re announcing that we have sold the Circle Trade OTC business to Kraken. We have known and admired Jesse and his team at Kraken for many years, and we have every confidence and expectation that Circle Trade customers and partners will continue to find best-in-class OTC liquidity service and responsiveness through Kraken going forward. Circle Trade represents an enormous success for the industry as well as for Circle, and we’re excited to see Kraken grow it further".

This decision comes with the intent of streamlining the business and implementing organizational changes. Their vision and goal has been more focused on stable coins. The pair continues by introducing their 2020 vision "Our vision and mission remain unchanged since we founded Circle in the summer of 2013. We have, however, course-corrected many times as we execute on that mission to achieve the vision. We have learned many important lessons, and they inform where we are now and our plan for traversing the path ahead".

They ended their press release with the following "the global interest in stablecoins and digital currency backed by central bank money, the introduction of third generation public blockchains, and the accelerated global policy interest in crypto all provide an exciting backdrop for our new platform services in 2020. We are excited to get these technologies into the hands of creative developers and businesses everywhere".