Kraken has filed a confidential IPO application following its $800M funding round at a $20B valuation

20 November 2025

7 min.

Kraken has filed a confidential IPO application following its $800M funding round at a $20B valuation

📰 Kraken Files Confidential IPO Application: What It Means for the Market and Investors

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement (Form S-1) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a potential initial public offering (IPO). The company announced this in a press release on November 19, 2025.

A confidential filing is standard practice in the U.S. IPO process: the SEC reviews the documents behind closed doors before the company publishes a finalized version of the prospectus with full offering details.

📌 Contents

Key Takeaways from Kraken’s IPO Filing
Confidential SEC Process: How Form S-1 Works
The Path to a $20B Valuation
Political and Regulatory Backdrop
Kraken’s Business Model: From Crypto Exchange to Multi-Asset Platform
Why Kraken’s Listing Matters for the Crypto Market
Kraken IPO FAQ
Conclusions

⭐ Key Takeaways from Kraken’s IPO Filing

Kraken has confidentially filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through Payward Inc., the legal entity operating under the Kraken brand.

The key parameters of the upcoming offering have not been disclosed: the number of shares and the price range remain undefined, so it is too early to discuss any potential IPO valuation. According to Reuters, the company is targeting the first quarter of 2026, although the actual timing will depend on the progress of the SEC review and overall market conditions.

Ahead of the filing, Kraken strengthened its position in the private market. The company raised $800 million across two tranches from institutional investors including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and strategic partner Citadel Securities. This round established a $20 billion valuation, marking a significant milestone in Kraken’s preparation for the public listing.

Earlier in 2025, Kraken completed a $500 million round at a $15 billion valuation — effectively the first step in its current IPO trajectory and a sign of sustained interest from major funds.

At the same time, Kraken has been actively expanding its business far beyond the classic crypto exchange model. The platform now supports 450+ digital assets, operates U.S. futures trading, offers access to U.S. equities and ETFs, supports fiat currencies, and continues to build out its infrastructure through major M&A deals — including NinjaTrader and Small Exchange, strengthening its footprint in the derivatives sector.

🗂 Confidential SEC Filing: How the Form S-1 Process Works

Filing an S-1 confidentially means the document undergoes a non-public review by the regulator. At this stage, the SEC examines the company’s financial results, business risks, corporate structure, and market positioning. After several rounds of revisions, a public version of the prospectus is released — only then do the offering parameters become available.

At the moment, Kraken has not disclosed the fundraising amount, price range, or number of shares, which fully aligns with standard SEC procedure. The final structure of the offering will depend on how the regulator evaluates the filing and what changes it requires.

For the market, the key point is that Kraken is now officially inside the IPO pipeline, meaning the process has been initiated and is moving along the regulatory track. The final S-1 prospectus will provide investors with detailed insight into the company’s financials, risks, and business model.

📈 How Kraken Reached a $20 Billion Valuation: The Path Through Private Rounds

The market closely followed Kraken’s reassessment in 2025, and it was the sequence of private funding rounds that laid the foundation for the upcoming public offering.

$500M Round → $15B Valuation

In mid-2025, Kraken completed a major $500 million funding round that valued the company at approximately $15 billion. This stage became an initial milestone on the path toward an IPO and demonstrated strong institutional demand for a multi-asset trading platform—not just a crypto exchange.

$800M Round → $20B Valuation (+33%)

Later, in November, Kraken announced it had raised an additional $800 million across two tranches, with participation from Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and strategic investor Citadel Securities. This solidified a new company valuation of $20 billion — roughly a 33% increase from the previous round.

Together, these two rounds established a valuation baseline ahead of the potential IPO. However, the final public-market valuation will ultimately depend on market conditions and institutional demand during the investor roadshow.

🏛 Political Landscape: Why Crypto Companies Are Rushing to Go Public

Kraken enters the IPO cycle at a moment when the crypto industry has a rare regulatory window. In 2025, Circle, Gemini и Bullish all successfully listed in the U.S., demonstrating strong investor appetite for public infrastructure-level crypto companies. Paired with the more supportive stance of the Trump administration and the passage of the Genius Act—which bolstered confidence in stablecoins—the environment has become favorable for going public.

Analysts also highlight the impact of the political calendar: until the 2026 midterm elections, regulatory attitudes toward the sector remain relatively predictable. After the elections, however, the balance of power may shift. As a result, many crypto firms are accelerating their IPO plans while this window remains open.

💼 How Kraken’s Business Has Evolved

Over the past years, Kraken has transformed from a classic crypto exchange into a full-scale multi-asset financial infrastructure. Today, the platform provides access to:

450+ digital assets and hundreds of trading pairs
U.S. futures trading
U.S. equities and ETFs
Fiat currencies, payments, and staking
Tokenized financial instruments

The expansion is supported by an active M&A strategy (mergers and acquisitions). In 2025, Kraken purchased NinjaTrader (≈$1.5B) and Small Exchange (≈$100M), securing its own derivatives infrastructure and broadening its institutional product suite. As a result, Kraken is building an integrated stack — from trading systems to asset custody and settlement — making the company’s operations clearer and more robust for future public investors.

🌐 The Significance of Kraken’s Listing for the Crypto Market

Kraken’s upcoming IPO is a key indicator of the crypto sector’s growing maturity. The successful listing of Circle in June 2025 (raising around $1.1 billion and showing strong early trading performance) has already demonstrated that the market is ready to support resilient, infrastructure-level crypto companies.

Coinbase (COIN) has long been publicly traded and serves as a natural benchmark for valuing a future public Kraken. At the same time, several other major players — including Grayscale, BitGo, and a number of institutional-scale digital asset firms — are already in the IPO pipeline.

If Kraken’s listing succeeds, it could send several important signals to the market:

another highly liquid public asset will appear in the crypto-infrastructure sector;
investors will gain a new way to diversify their exposure to crypto through shares of a stable technology platform rather than just tokens;
private investors who entered Kraken at $15B valuations may see their gains realized and validated on the public market — if the IPO valuation comes in higher.

In this sense, Kraken’s IPO is not just a milestone for one company, but a broader test of market demand for mature, infrastructure-driven crypto projects.

❓FAQ on the Kraken IPO

— When is Kraken’s IPO expected?
According to Reuters, the company is targeting the first quarter of 2026. The exact date will be set after the SEC review is completed and provided that market conditions remain favorable.

— What valuation does Kraken have ahead of the IPO?

In 2025, Kraken raised $500M at a valuation of about $15B.
A subsequent $800M round set a new valuation of $20B.

These transactions form a reference point for the future public listing, though the final IPO valuation will depend on market conditions.

— Is the IPO price range known?
Not yet. Kraken has not disclosed the expected price range, number of shares, or targeted raise amount.

— What does Kraken do as a business?
Kraken is a multi-asset trading platform offering access to:

450+ cryptocurrencies and trading pairs
U.S. futures
U.S. equities and ETFs
fiat currency trading, payments, and staking
tokenized financial instruments

Its infrastructure is strengthened by recent acquisitions:

NinjaTrader — a major retail futures trading platform
Small Exchange — a futures exchange that expands Kraken’s derivatives footprint

More answers to questions about Kraken’s pre-IPO round can be found on the offer page at Marketplace Regolith.

🎯 Conclusions

Kraken’s IPO is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated listings in the new wave of crypto-related public offerings. The company is now in the final stages of preparation and is approaching the public markets as a mature, multi-asset trading platform.

If Kraken goes public at valuation multiples comparable to Coinbase, its IPO valuation could land in the $22–28 billion range, with an indicative share price of $80–100+ based on 261 million shares outstanding.

This is not a guaranteed forecast but rather a market-based model that illustrates the potential upside relative to current private valuations.

👉 Regolith has been investing in Kraken since 2022 and now offers investors the opportunity to join the pre-IPO round at $68 per share.

This is a rare chance to enter one of the most promising infrastructure projects in the crypto industry before its public debut. The latest developments only reinforce the strength of our strategic positioning and our confidence in Kraken’s growing role in the future of digital assets.