It’s happy birthday for two popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance Australia and Kraken.

Binance Australia launched a year ago today, while Kraken was started 10 years ago on Wednesday. (Meaning it’s currently Kraken’s birthday in its birthplace of San Francisco, given the time difference).

Binance Australia said it has grown into the country’s largest exchange by trading volume, with 480,000 Australian users and billions in value traded in the first year.

The exchange said it had plans to triple its staff in its second year but didn’t give details.

Kraken chief executive Jesse Powell meanwhile celebrated the anniversary of the US-based exchange, which has Australian operations, with a tweetstorm.

Blockfolio rebrands

Sam Bankman-Fried’s burgeoning FTX exchange is rebranding the popular crypto portfolio tracking app Blockfolio it acquired in May 2020 for US$150 million.

As of today the app, which had been known as FTX: Blockfolio, is just FTX.

“The rebrand of FTX: Blockfolio to FTX puts the final cap on our acquisition of Blockfolio, doubling down on our commitment to being the number one crypto trading platform for both retail and institutional users,” Bankman-Fried said in the announcement.

“Rebranding Blockfolio shows our commitment to mobile trading, and is just another step in growing our brand on a global scale and will allow us to bring new features to market and better the user experience.”

Trading on the app is powered by FTX or its US equivalent, FTX.US, depending on a user’s location.

Blockies nominations open soon

The Australian Blockchain Industry Awards, known affectionately as the Blockies, are set to take place later this year after being cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

“Let’s support the industry by recognising the people, companies and projects that have positively impacted the sector the most in the last year,” Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas wrote on Linkedin.

The inaugural Blockies were held in 2019 in Melbourne, honouring Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, Finder co-founder and director Fred Schebesta and Power Ledger economist Anya Nova.

Nominations in 13 different categories open next week on the award website.