Kraken Launches NFT Marketplace, Expanding Crypto and Digital Asset Offerings

06.16.2023

Market Overview 

Crypto Roundup

Bitcoin dominance surges, accounting for nearly half of the $1 trillion crypto market, while altcoins experience a selloff. Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin emphasizes three critical transitions for the network’s survival. Meanwhile, Ethereum developers agree on the Dencun upgrade to reduce gas fees for layer 2 roll-ups. Switzerland-based ETP issuer 21Shares launches the Lido DAO ETP (LIDO) in 22 EU countries. Outflows of digital asset investment products reach $88 million, and Curve Finance’s founder safeguards a stablecoin loan. Polygon announces Polygon 2.0, aiming to become the Value Layer of the Internet. Notably, a solo bitcoin miner wins a 6.25 BTC block reward. The Bank of China’s investment arm issues tokenized notes on Ethereum. Over $319.67 million worth of tokens unlock this week. Trading volumes show a decline in spot and derivatives trading.

NFT Market News:

Kraken Launches NFT Marketplace

Kraken has officially launched its NFT Marketplace as a “comprehensive platform for purchasing, trading, and understanding NFTs”. With a focus on enriching its product and feature range, the platform now offers a robust hub for NFT enthusiasts. One of the key highlights of this launch is the substantial growth of Kraken NFT’s portfolio, which has expanded from a modest 70 collections in its beta phase to over 250 collections. This increase is made possible by the integration of blockchains such as Polygon, Ethereum, and Solana, ensuring seamless and efficient transactions across various networks.

In line with its community-focused approach, the Kraken NFT Marketplace aims to transform the NFT scene by proactively incorporating new and high-demand collections. Notably, this launch shines a spotlight on “bluechip” NFT collections, such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mfers, and CrypToadz. The platform caters to a diverse range of budgets by offering a variety of digital assets priced under $100, in hopes to make the platform an attractive destination for collectors and creators at all levels. To incentivise user engagement, Kraken NFT has removed gas fees for buying and selling NFTs, making the platform even more accessible and hopefully boosting activity in the marketplace. The NFT Marketplace space has become hypercompetitive in the last few years so it will be an uphill battle to truly compete amongst larger exchanges such as Blur, Opensea, Superrare, etc. It will be interesting to see if Krakens unique product offerings will be enough to create a sustainable marketplace moving forward.

Latest News:

WELCOME FRIENDS: Hundreds of institutions and prominent individuals have invested directly in crypto, adopted the value thesis, or started building technology to support digital assets since Wave started tracking these developments in late 2020. Now the rise of the Metaverse, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) is driving mainstream adoption of blockchain technologies everywhere we look. We’re continuing to keep track of it every week here:

• Google Cloud is offering certain customers up to $1 million in protection for costs incurred during undetected crypto mining attacks. Subscribers to Google’s Security Command Center Premium, a cyber threat detector, are entitled to this hefty protection. 
• Breaking the year-long worldwide trend of declining Bitcoin and crypto ATMs, May recorded a steep increase, with nearly 1,400 net installations. The total number of crypto ATMs consistently declined in the first four months of 2023. During the timeframe, major economies like the United States contributed to the dwindling numbers, but Australia, Poland and Spain increased crypto ATM installations.
• French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton will soon debut a limited series of NFTs, each priced at about $41,712 (€39,000), which will unlock exclusive products and experiences for high-level customers.
• Bank of China investment bank BOCI issued fully digital structured notes worth 200 million of offshore renminbi ($28 million) on the Ethereum blockchain, making it the first Chinese financial institution to issue a tokenized security in Hong Kong.

REGULATORY ROUNDUP: We’re living through the era of regulatory recognition of digital assets. The legislation, litigation, and regulation happening today will dictate the entire future of our industry, and we have a historic chance to shape those changes by staying informed and exerting political influence.

• Circle Internet Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Circle Singapore), an affiliate of Circle Internet Financial, LLC (Circle), has obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The license allows Circle Singapore to offer digital payment token services, alongside cross-border money transfer services and domestic money transfer services in the city-state via its various products and services, including the Circle Account, which allows institutional customers access to USDC. 

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