Kraken – the crypto exchange firm headquartered in San Francisco – has reportedly finalized its acquisition of the over-the-counter (OTC) desk from Circle. 

Revealed by Kraken on December 17 through its blog, the firm has successfully purchased “one of the most recognized OTC desks in crypto.” 

Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire – the men who jointly established Circle – has publicly provided confirmation regarding the acquisition of the Circle Trade OTC business by 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.” Allaire and Neville further remarked. 

Per the pair, this initiative is the next step in Circle’s “sharpened 2020 product roadmap”, in which the firm plans to shift its concentration to its stablecoin platforms, to achieve an enhanced effectiveness, via bringing down complexity level, polishing Circle’s product portfolio, and reorganizing its team to make them more agile. 

As for Kraken, the acquisition is an attempt to greater strengthen its services, in alignment with the firm’s goal to better support its worldwide trading partners, provide deeper liquidity and a wider spread across all the assets it is facilitating, as well as update its trader tools, which will make the trade process from quote to settlement more efficient. 

Previously, Specifically, Sean Neville has embarked on a new adventure, as he will be serving as a member of the board of directors of the firm, beginning January next year.