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When Kraken announced… Its acquisition of Breakout In September 2025, he sent a clear signal to the cryptocurrency industry: proprietary trading has arrived. The deal represented the first time a major cryptocurrency exchange had entered the proprietary trading segment, combining Kraken’s institutional infrastructure with Breakout’s valuation-based funding model.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, said Breakout gives them a way to allocate capital based on proof of competence rather than just access to capital itself. He added that in a world that is rapidly changing from “what you know” to “what you know,” they want to develop systems that reward proven performance, not personal background.
This acquisition reflects a wider trend: what started as an individual business phenomenon has evolved into a sector that attracts serious institutional interest and significant capital.
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The numbers behind the boom
The proprietary trading industry has seen extraordinary growth. According to data from Google Trends, the global search volume for the term “business owner” has increased by more than 5,000% between 2020 and 2025. The term has recently reached historical levels, reflecting the unprecedented awareness and demand for business financing programs.
Industry analysts estimate that the proprietary trading market was worth $5.8 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $14.5 billion by 2033. This represents a compound annual growth rate that exceeds most fintech sectors, as proprietary trading grew by 1,264% between December 2015 and April 2024, versus traditional investing in the same research period.
The cryptocurrency sector in this market has registered a faster growth. A recent industry report said that 90% of the top 20 proprietary trading companies saw an increase in interest in Google searches in August 2025 alone, with companies specializing in cryptocurrencies having particularly strong momentum.
Why are major players taking notice?
Kraken did not take the step into private trading in isolation, as it had NinjaTrader purchased for $1.5 billion and Capitalise.ai in the months leading up to the Breakout deal, signaling a strategic push to take control of the entire individual and professional business life cycle. Observers of the sector considered that these acquisitions pave the way for the possibility of Kraken going public.
The Breakout deal addresses a particularly compelling value proposition: by integrating proprietary trading directly into Kraken Pro, the exchange can identify and cultivate qualified traders, while generating revenue from valuation fees and profit-sharing agreements. Breakout has already issued more than 20,000 funded accounts since its launch in 2023 – a customer base that now has access to Kraken’s liquidity and institutional infrastructure.
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The purchase is a validation for the actual trading industry. When a regulated, institutional exchange like Kraken makes a strategic bet on the angel trader model, it indicates that property trading has transcended its origins as an individual phenomenon and has become something more persistent.
The changing competition landscape
The Kraken-Breakout deal reshaped the competitive dynamics of private account crypto trading. Established players such as FTMO – since 2015 considered the gold standard in the industry – now face competition not only from other trading companies, but also from larger exchanges with deeper funding and an existing user base.
FTMO responded by expanding its crypto offering, adding 22 new pairs and improving spreads in July 2025, bringing its total to more than 30 CFD crypto instruments. The Czech company has served more than a million merchants and maintains a rating of 4.8/5 on Trustpilot – a heavy certification in a sector where trust remains paramount.
The acquisition also created an opportunity to position platforms differently. As private accounts backed by exchanges compete for capital and infrastructure, a new class of native cryptocurrency companies is emerging with a focus on merchant development alongside funding.
The next frontier: the development of commerce integrated with AI
Kraken’s acquisition of Breakout highlights the evolution of private account trading towards institutionalization, and highlights a gap that innovative platforms are trying to cover. Most companies, including Breakout, focus primarily on… Valuation and provision of capital. What these companies do not offer is systematic development for traders.
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The importance of this is evident in the data on the performance of traders that remains clear. Industry sources still report that only 5-10% of merchants pass their first assessment, and a smaller percentage even receive payment from funded accounts. The bottleneck is not the lack of capital, but the psychological and technical gaps that lead to traders failing.
A number of platforms are facing this gap, with Fondeo.xyz As a prime example of what some industry observers call the “next generation.” Trade digital currencies with private accounts. The site integrates AI coaching directly into the funded trader experience – an approach that recognizes that trading psychology is inseparable from trading performance. For marketers who have struggled with the traditional valuation model, this combination of finance and development represents a radically different value proposition.
This approach reflects a broader trend in AI business tools. The global market size for trading AI tools is expected to grow from $24.53 billion in 2025 to $40.47 billion by 2029 – a compound annual growth rate of 13.3%. Although most AI tools are focused on execution or analysis, the integration of AI training with private enterprise architecture presents an almost unexplored opportunity led by platforms like Fondeo.xyz.
What does this mean for traders?
For aspiring crypto traders, Kraken’s takeover of Breakout represents both an opportunity and a warning. On the one hand, institutional intervention brings credibility, better infrastructure and perhaps more stable platforms. Breakout traders now get Kraken-level security, institutional liquidity, and the backing of one of the most trusted names in crypto.
In contrast, trading with private accounts​​​​for institutions can become more competitive and less forgiving. Kraken explicitly explains that Breakout’s evaluation program is “deliberately rigorous,” designed to verify risk management skills and strategy discipline before allocating capital. They indicated that most of the candidates did not succeed at the first attempt.
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This creates a natural segmentation in the market. Confident traders can turn to established names like FTMO or exchange-backed options like Breakout. Those looking to develop skills while accessing capital – especially in the unique 24/7 cryptocurrency environment – ​​may find that integrated platforms like Fondeo.xyz better suit their development path.
A look ahead: institutionalizing professional trade
Expect the Kraken-Breakout acquisition to not be the last of its kind. With professional trading reaching historic levels of interest in search results and the market expanding toward an expected value of $14.5 billion, major exchanges and other fintech players are likely to weigh similar moves.
Industry watchers expect a wave of consolidation. Small businesses with unreliable payments or questionable practices will struggle to compete with exchange-backed platforms with deeper resources. At the same time, niche players will succeed in carving out a sustainable niche, whether through superior technology, AI-powered business development, or focusing on niche markets.
Google Trends data tells the story clearly: interest in professional trading shows no signs of slowing down. For traders, this means more options, better infrastructure and increased legitimacy. For the sector, this reflects the transition from a retail phenomenon to an institutional asset class that has already begun.
This is the way modern capital platforms work, Kraken’s Sethi said. It must be transparent, programmable and open to all who have an advantage. In 2026, this advantage can come not only from trading skills, but also from choosing the right platform to develop – whether it is a giant corporation or an innovator that bets on the development of traders through artificial intelligence.
