tl;dr
Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Israeli startup Capitalise.ai, a no-code trading automation platform, to integrate its technology into Kraken Pro later this year. Capitalise.ai enables users to create, backtest, and automate trades across various markets without coding. This follows Kraken's $1....
Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Israel-based startup Capitalise.ai, a no-code trading automation platform that transforms natural-language commands into executable strategies, for an undisclosed amount. This technology is set to be integrated into Kraken Pro later this year, enabling users to design, backtest, and automate trades across both digital and traditional markets without writing any code.
Founded in 2015, Capitalise.ai’s platform supports execution across equities, crypto, foreign exchange, futures, and options. Kraken’s head of exchange, Shannon Kurtas, emphasized that this acquisition provides Kraken Pro clients with a new, accessible way to act on trading ideas in real time, making advanced strategies more approachable to a broader user base.
This acquisition follows Kraken’s $1.5 billion purchase of US futures platform NinjaTrader earlier this year, illustrating the company’s aggressive expansion in the trading technology space.
The crypto industry is increasingly investing in artificial intelligence startups, highlighting AI’s crucial role in trading, compliance, and infrastructure. For instance, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis acquired AI-powered fraud detection startup Alterya for around $150 million, strengthening compliance and real-time monitoring capabilities. Similarly, the Web3 super-app xPortal acquired German AI startup Alphalink to enhance its AI tools for decentralized finance (DeFi) and digital identity solutions.
Recent acquisitions demonstrate growing momentum, such as the joint $1.17 billion bid by Tether and video platform Rumble to acquire Northern Data, an AI and high-performance computing provider, and Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings' $168 million deal to acquire a majority stake in French AI firm Exaion, known for its partnerships with Nvidia and Deloitte.
Not all players are opting to buy AI tech outright; Coinbase, for example, preferred a partnership approach by teaming up with Perplexity AI to integrate its COIN50 index data into a real-time AI-powered search engine, signaling a trend towards collaborative innovation in crypto and AI domains.