Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange, has acquired the Israeli startup Capitalise.ai, a platform for no-code trading automation that transforms natural-language commands into actionable strategies, for an undisclosed sum. This technology is set to be integrated into Kraken Pro later this year, as detailed in a blog post from Kraken dated August 20.
Founded in 2015, Capitalise.ai developed a platform that interprets common text into strategies, facilitating execution in equities, cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, futures, and options. Once integrated, Kraken Pro users will have the capability to create, backtest, and automate trades across both digital and traditional markets without coding.
“This acquisition provides Kraken Pro clients a new method to execute ideas in real time,” stated Shannon Kurtas, Kraken’s head of exchange. She explained that the system’s objective is to simplify access to advanced strategies for a wider audience.
This acquisition comes on the heels of Kraken’s $1.5 billion purchase of the US futures platform NinjaTrader in March.
Crypto firms race to snap up AI startups
Leading crypto exchanges, analytics firms, and miners are increasingly acquiring AI companies, highlighting a trend where artificial intelligence becomes integral to trading, compliance, and infrastructure.
On January 13, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis acquired Alterya, an AI-driven fraud detection startup, in a deal valued at approximately $150 million. Alterya’s real-time monitoring system is designed to identify suspicious activities, enhancing compliance tools for financial institutions and regulators.
Later that month, the Web3 super-app xPortal purchased Alphalink, a German startup focused on AI-driven mobile interfaces for cryptocurrencies. This acquisition incorporated Alphalink’s team into xPortal to bolster its AI capabilities for DeFi and digital identity.
Acquisition activity has surged recently. On August 11, Tether and video platform Rumble announced a collaborative $1.17 billion bid to acquire Northern Data, a Germany-based provider of AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. This deal would integrate Northern Data’s GPU cloud and data center operations into Rumble, with Tether pledging to multi-year GPU purchases.
On the same day, Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings reached a $168 million agreement to acquire a 64% stake in Exaion, a French AI firm that is a subsidiary of the state-owned utility EDF. Exaion’s high-performance computing division collaborates with Nvidia and Deloitte, and the deal gives MARA the option to increase its ownership to 75% by 2027.
However, not all companies are opting for acquisitions. In July, Coinbase chose to partner with Perplexity AI instead, integrating its COIN50 index data into the search engine as a move toward incorporating crypto data into real-time AI responses.
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