Kraken Adds GBP Support for U.K.; What This Means for Crypto Market

Crypto asset exchange Kraken has added two new options for GBP deposits and withdrawals in attempts to speed up the exchange of funds for users.

Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Chart Looks Eerily Similar to $3,000 Bottom; Is the Pain Over?

Options to Fund Accounts

In collaboration with UK-based payments services provider Clear Junction, Kraken users can now fund accounts using either the UK’s Faster Payments Service (FPS/BACS) or the CHAPS network, as reported on the exchange’s blog.

FPS is significantly cheaper than CHAPS, with fees of just 1.95 GBP; transfers sent via FPS typically arrive on the same day, although this is not guaranteed.

On the other hand, the CHAPS network, with fees of 21 GBP, is intended for larger payments that need a guaranteed arrival; payments issued over CHAPS are guaranteed to arrive on the same day if issued before the daily 14:00 UTC cutoff.

This latest announcement further promotes Kraken’s mission of  “delivering financial freedom by giving clients more choice when it comes to managing their assets.”

Kraken, one of the oldest and most-respected crypto asset exchanges, intends these moves to attract customers who need more immediate ability to move funds, providing flexibility lacking amongst some of its competitors.

Kraken at the Top

The Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) published its fifth market surveillance report in September that verifies reporting of crypto asset exchange volumes. As part of its methodology, through its proprietary algorithm, BTI cleans all wash trading from exchanges’ volumes:

“Since the start of 2019, global wash trading has reduced by 35.7% among the real Top-40 exchanges. The process of sharing our data reports with many of these exchanges has resulted in enhanced mechanisms for detecting wash trading accounts and shutting them down,” the report read.

It reveals that the cleanest exchanges since its latest report continue to be Kraken, Coinbase, Poloniex, and UpBit.

CEO Bullish on Bitcoin

Recently, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell spoke with YouTuber Ivan on Tech, discussing the demise of Altcoins and the strength of Bitcoin. He believes that hype surrounding altcoins in the cryptosphere will soon come to an end, saying:

“Altcoin hype has largely died off … probably 99% of them are down by some 95% of their value from their all-time highs.”

In regards to Bitcoin, Powell says he never recommends shorting, saying that Kraken has “way more demand to go long Bitcoin, but we’ve only got so many dollars in the system. The margin pool for borrowing dollars to buy Bitcoin is constantly being exhausted, which I think is good. People are bullish.”

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