Kraken is acquiring Circle Trade's OTC desk for an undisclosed amount. Kraken’s global OTC desk, run by Wall Street veteran Nelson Minier, will now expand to more than 20 global professionals.

This acquisition aims to bolster Kraken’s services and capabilities by providing new trading partners around the world, particularly in Asia.

In a blog post from December 17th, Circle Co-Founders, Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire wrote, “We’re announcing today 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.”

The announcement follows news that Circle eliminated 10 roles (approx 10% of staff) in early December.