Kraken's co-CEO confirms the crypto exchange is still pursuing a U.S. IPO
The crypto exchange's co-CEO confirmed the IPO is still on the table, even as a new valuation puts Kraken at $13.3 billion — down from $20 billion in November
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Crypto exchange Kraken is moving forward with a U.S. initial public offering after a brief pause, with co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirming the plan at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, D.C., according to CNBC.
Separately, Deutsche Börse announced it would acquire a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Kraken's parent company, Payward, Inc., through a $200 million secondary transaction involving existing shares. The deal implies a valuation of $13.3 billion for Kraken, according to CoinDesk. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approval.
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The implied valuation marks a significant drop from the $20 billion figure attached to Kraken's $800 million fundraising round in November 2025, according to CNBC.
Kraken said in November it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the time, the company said the number of shares and price range had not yet been determined, and that the offering would occur after the SEC completes its review, subject to market and other conditions.
According to CNBC, the listing effort stalled after bitcoin slid to roughly 40% beneath the peak it set in October, souring the conditions needed to move forward. The cryptocurrency has rebounded since then, touching $76,000 for the first time since February and posting gains of roughly 9% over the course of April.
Deutsche Börse and Kraken had previously announced a strategic partnership in December 2025, aimed at bridging traditional financial markets and the digital asset economy. Deutsche Börse described the arrangement as covering a broad range of functions — among them trading, custody, settlement, collateral management, and tokenized assets — designed to connect the two ecosystems for institutional clients. According to CoinDesk, the exchange operator had already built out a crypto trading platform aimed at institutional clients by 2024, and separately joined forces with Societe Generale-FORGE to bring euro and dollar stablecoin support into its post-trade infrastructure.
Founded in 2011, Kraken offers trading in more than 450 digital assets, U.S. futures, U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and fiat currencies, the company said.