PANews reported on May 20 that according to The Block, the crypto exchange Kraken obtained the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license by acquiring a licensed institution in Cyprus, and officially expanded its derivatives business to the EU. Alexia Theodorou, head of the exchange's derivatives business, previously revealed that derivatives trading has accounted for 50% of its total trading volume.

The expansion enables Kraken to provide compliant derivatives services to users in the European Economic Area (including the 27 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway). In May this year, Kraken launched similar products to qualified investors under the supervision of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Data shows that cryptocurrency derivatives transactions account for about 70%-75% of the total global crypto transactions.