Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has successfully completed a new funding round, raising $500 million in investments, which has increased the company’s valuation to $15 billion. At the same time, the platform’s IPO has been postponed to 2026.
This is reported by Finway
Key Investments and Business Expansion
Founded in 2011, Kraken has solidified its position in the market by actively attracting institutional investors and professional traders. Despite being less recognized compared to Coinbase, the company has been expanding rapidly over the past two years — notably, in the spring, the platform acquired the trading system NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, which allowed it to attract over 2 million new users. Co-CEO of Kraken, Arjun Sethi, describes this deal as “the largest integration of traditional finance with the crypto market.”
Kraken’s strategy focuses on leveraging blockchain technology to eliminate barriers in the financial sector. The company is actively introducing new products, including tokenized stocks xStocks, which allow trading securities of companies like Apple and Tesla directly on the blockchain. Demand for these instruments is particularly rising in regions with high brokerage fees, such as the Republic of South Africa.
“I hope that cryptocurrency will help distribute these advantages more evenly. We have not yet achieved this goal, but the first steps have already been taken — first came stablecoins, then tokenized assets, and now tokenized stocks.”
Financial Results and Management Changes
For the second quarter of 2025, Kraken reported $411 million in revenue and nearly $80 million in profit after EBITDA, maintaining its status as one of the most profitable companies in the crypto market. However, the path to IPO has been complicated by a series of personnel changes: following the departure of co-founder Jesse Powell in 2022, management transitioned to Arjun Sethi and Dave Ripley. According to sources, Sethi is currently making the key decisions in the company. His arrival was accompanied by a top management overhaul, with leaders from various departments leaving the company. Kraken notes that these changes were necessary for restructuring.
Despite the delay in the IPO — now postponed to 2026 — Kraken remains attractive to investors due to its business model aimed at professional market players. This allows the company to stay among the industry leaders even amidst an active wave of IPOs, which has already seen major players like Circle, Gemini, and Bullish go public.
“Our model is built around professional traders and institutions. Features like Kraken Pro, our reliable API, and advanced interfaces make us an attractive place for funds and clients with high trading volumes — they use our exchange not because it looks good, but because it works and has high liquidity,” emphasized Sethi.
Currently, Kraken continues to introduce new products and expand its geographical presence. Recently, the platform opened trading of tokenized U.S. stocks for clients in the European Union. Experts note that the long-term potential of the company remains high, especially considering its focus on professional and institutional traders.