At Kraken, foreign-exchange markets meet Bitcoin on a secure, regulated platform where customers can trade digital currencies on protected hardware, with margin trading and advanced ordering, along with fast deposits and withdrawals enabled by a strategic agency partnership with German online bank Fidor AG.

"We're excited to get significant funding to expand Kraken, which already has the most advanced order types, from the newest of users to the most sophisticated traders," said Jesse Powell, founder and CEO of Kraken. "We're looking forward to forging strong bank relationships in the US and elsewhere in the world, as we have in the EU, and expanding our global footprint."

From technical competency and legal compliance to regulations and general administration, the digital currency exchange business is hard work. With the rapid pace of financial innovation unleashed by Bitcoin, the United States is in dire need of a domestic digital currency exchange to be on an even playing field with the rest of the world. Although the United States is the largest Bitcoin market, the vast majority of Bitcoin liquidity is held elsewhere. Kraken aims to change that.

"The potential for a new payment platform and the rise of alternative currencies could have profound and exciting implications for the way we conduct financial transactions," Sen. Charles Schumer of New York recently said.