Kraken acquires Capitalise.ai as crypto companies buy AI startups

Cointelegraph

Crypto exchange Kraken has acquired Israel-based startup Capitalise.ai, a no-code trading automation platform that turns natural-language commands into executable strategies, for an undisclosed amount. The technology will be integrated into Kraken Pro later this year, according to a blog post by Kraken on Aug. 20.Founded in 2015, Capitalise.ai built a platform that converts everyday text into strategies and supports execution across equities, crypto, foreign exchange markets, futures and options. Once integrated, Kraken Pro users will be able to design, backtest, and automate trades across digital and traditional markets without writing code.“This acquisition gives Kraken Pro clients a new way to act on ideas in real time,” said Shannon Kurtas, Kraken’s head of exchange. She said the system aims to make advanced strategies more accessible to a broader range of users.The move follows Kraken’s $1.5 billion purchase of US futures platform NinjaTrader in March.Crypto firms race to snap up AI startupsMajor crypto exchanges, analytics companies and miners are increasingly acquiring AI companies, underscoring a trend of artificial intelligence becoming core to trading, compliance and infrastructure.On Jan. 13, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis acquired Alterya, an AI-powered fraud detection startup, in a deal worth about $150 million. Alterya’s real-time monitoring system is designed to flag suspicious activity, strengthening compliance tools for banks and regulators.Later that month, Web3 super-app xPortal bought Alphalink, a German startup specializing in AI-driven mobile interfaces for crypto. The acquisition brought Alphalink’s team in-house to expand xPortal’s AI tools for DeFi and digital identity.Acquisition momentum has picked up in recent weeks. On Aug. 11, Tether and video platform Rumble announced a joint $1.17 billion bid to acquire Germany-based Northern Data, an AI and high-performance computing infrastructure provider. The deal would fold Northern Data’s GPU cloud and data center units into Rumble, with Tether committing to multi-year GPU purchases.The same day, Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings struck a $168 million deal to acquire a 64% stake in French AI firm Exaion, a subsidiary of state-owned utility EDF. Exaion’s high-performance computing business partners with Nvidia and Deloitte, and the deal includes an option for MARA to raise its stake to 75% by 2027.Not all companies are buying their way in. In July, Coinbase chose partnership over acquisition, teaming up with Perplexity AI to feed its COIN50 index data into the search engine — a step toward embedding crypto data into real-time AI responses.Magazine: Your AI ‘digital twin’ can take meetings and comfort your loved ones