Leading cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced that it has acquired popular charting and trading platform Cryptowatch, marking its first acquisition of 2017.

Last year, Kraken acquired three major bitcoin exchanges Coinsetter, Cavirtex and CleverCoin, as well as the award-winning wallet funding service Glidera, which is soon to be rebranded as Kraken Direct. 

Cryptowatch is used by thousands of traders to chart over 150 markets in real-time and trade up to 22 digital assets through a highly user-friendly interface. It has seen rapid growth in the past two years, increasing its active user-base by 700%. With this acquisition, Cryptowatch founder, Artur Sapek, is joining Kraken to continue developing Cryptowatch and lead the development of Kraken’s interface.

“In just 2 years Cryptowatch grew into one of the pillars of the digital asset trading community,” Sapek said. “Teaming up with an exchange was the natural next step, and Kraken was my first choice. The Kraken team has built a very mature and reliable exchange, and I look forward to working with them to deliver the best trading software in the industry.”

Kraken said that its clients will immediately benefit from the acquisition, as it has leveraged Cryptowatch to release an upgraded trading interface that is now available.

“I’m thrilled to welcome the Cryptowatch trading platform and its founder into the Kraken family,” said Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. “As the industry’s leading charting tool for traders, we plan to devote more resources and talent to further enhance its offering. And we’ve purposed the technology to provide a great new charting and trading platform to Kraken clients as the first step in improving our own interface. It’s a great start to 2017 and I can’t wait to share what else we’ve got in the pipeline”.