Kraken Becomes Latest Crypto Firm to File for IPO

Cryptocurrency platform Kraken is preparing to go public.

The company on Wednesday (Nov. 19) announced it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined,” Kraken’s announcement said. “The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”

A report by Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the company is aiming to go public as soon as the first quarter of 2026.

The IPO plans come at the tail end of a year that has seen a number of companies in the digital asset space go public. Other companies who have listed include Circle, Figure Technologies, and Bullish.

It is also happening amid an ongoing downturn in the cryptocurrency market, wiping out more than $1 trillion as of Tuesday (Nov. 19) morning, per a Financial Times report.

The price of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, hit a record high in October. It had fallen more than 28% to $89,500, its lowest trading level since April, the report added.

“Despite all the institutional adoption and positive regulatory momentum, crypto market gains have now been wiped out on the year,” Brett Knoblauch, a crypto analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, told the FT.

In other Kraken news, the company achieved a valuation of $20 billion in the second of a pair of tranches in which it raised a total of $800 million.

This announcement came about two months after reports that the company was valued at $15 billion in a funding round that ended in September and raised $500 million.

Kraken said in its announcement that it will use its new funding to accelerate its efforts to bring traditional financial products on-chain, and to expand its product suite organically and through acquisitions; deepen its regulated footprint.

The company also hopes to grow into new markets in Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while continuing to expand its offerings beyond crypto.

“This investment represents long-term conviction in Kraken’s mission to build trusted, regulated infrastructure for the open financial system,” Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in a news release. “Our focus has always been straightforward: to create a platform where anyone can trade any asset, anytime, anywhere.”