Kraken Acquires Magna for Early Token Support

U.S.-based centralized exchange (CEX) Kraken announced its acquisition of token management platform Magna yesterday.

The deal closed on Friday and marks the CEX’s latest strategic move as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO).

The move was reported by Fortune, which said Kraken declined to disclose the deal terms, but Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi told the news outlet that the acquisition will allow Kraken to support token issuer teams “early on in their life cycle,” indicating that it may provide Kraken a strategic leg up in terms of token listings.

While it is unlikely there is any connection, Kraken also moved to list and promote a memecoin from 2016, PEPECOIN, yesterday, which trades at just a $15 million market capitalization, and should not be confused with PEPE, which launched in 2023 and trades at a $1.7 billion market capitalization.

PEPECOIN is only up 7.6% since the announcement, indicative of the market’s risk-off environment.

Despite the market’s lack of enthusiasm for the listing, the Magna acquisition and the listing of a micro-cap token on the same day may indicate continued aggression from Kraken in expanding asset diversity on the exchange.