Key Highlights:
- Kraken crypto exchange has completed a $500 million funding round.
- The raise puts the exchange’s valuation at a whopping $15 billion.
- The firm is now looking forward to its IPO debut in 2026.
Kraken has just closed a $500 million round, valuing it at $15 billion, to make the final preparations before it finally launches into the stock market. The funding, which was closed this month, was backed by a combination of institutional investors and venture capitalists, including Tribe Capital. Arjun Sethi, who is both a co-CEO and a personal investor in the exchange, has come to be the spearhead of the next phase of expansion of the exchange.
The platform was established in 2011, and it has managed to establish its reputation as serving professional traders, and has remained a less visible brand compared to Coinbase, but has gained a strong reputation among institutions. This is the first major capital infusion by Kraken in over 10 years of operation. Previously, it received only an injection of $27 million of outside capital.
One of the sources close to the deal added that the terms of funding, such as the valuation of $15 billion, were determined by the company itself. Others who contributed were investment managers, venture capitalists, and insiders.
IPO Timeline and Capital Market Pressure
Kraken is expected to become a publicly-traded firm in 2026, which is later compared to several of its competitors. This year, Circle, Gemini, and Bullish have already explored public markets, and demand among investors to list their positions via crypto is high. To the supporters of Kraken, the long wait is risky: when the exchange eventually becomes public, the market will have changed, especially in case the ongoing bull market cycle dies away.
However, the company comes into the IPO queue in a good financial situation. During the second quarter, it had revenue of $411 million and almost $80 million in post-EBITDA earnings, which highlights that it is capable of making regular returns in a very unpredictable industry.
Leadership Shake-Up at Kraken
Much of the IPO impetus is being influenced by Sethi, who became a co-CEO with Dave Ripley last year. The title of ‘co’ is more symbolic, according to the insiders. According to one former employee, when workers inquired who made decisions in the company, Jesse Powell, the cofounder and former CEO of Kraken, replied without mincing words: “Sethi would decide everything even as Ripley sat nearby.”
Under Sethi, C-suite exit has impacted the CTO, the COO, the senior sales personnel, and the legal chief. According to the company, the restructuring was aimed at becoming “leaner and faster.” One representative also admitted that morale was hit, but that employees are currently “energized and excited” as new products are introduced at an accelerated rate.
The Continued Institutional Expansion
Kraken used to be popular with high-volume traders and hedge funds, but it is now targeting retail investors. In 2025, it released xStocks, which are blockchain representations of leading equities, including Apple and Tesla. The products are already gaining ground in markets such as South Africa, where brokerage charges are very high, mostly exceeding 10%.
Moreover, Sethi regards tokenized assets as the next phase in the development of finance. “My hope with crypto is to distribute those benefits more evenly,” he said, according to a Fortune report. Sethi further added, “We’re not all the way there, but the first steps are happening: stablecoins, then tokenized assets, and now tokenized equities.”
Constructing the Bridge to TradFi
Kraken is also consolidating its base in the conventional markets. The company recently acquired NinjaTrader, which is a platform that is popular among professional asset traders, in a $1.5 billion acquisition earlier this year. The deal added roughly 2 million users and, according to Sethi, was “the largest-ever deal combining TradFi and crypto.”
“Our model’s built around pro traders and institutions,” Sethi said. He added, “Features like Kraken Pro, our robust API, and advanced interfaces make us a destination for funds and high-volume clients. They use our exchange not because it’s flashy, but because it works and the liquidity is deep.”
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