In brief
- Crypto exchange Kraken reportedly aims to raise $500 million in a funding round at a $15 billion valuation.
- The fundraising comes amid an expected initial public offering (IPO) in early 2026.
- Many of Kraken’s peers have made similar moves toward IPOs in recent months, which experts attribute to a more favorable regulatory environment in the U.S.
Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is reportedly planning to raise $500 million in a funding round at a $15 billion valuation.
The exchange has not publicly commented on the potential round, which was first reported by The Information, citing anonymous sources. Founded in 2011, Kraken has a daily trading volume of $1.25 billion, according to CoinGecko.
The news follows reports from Bloomberg earlier this year indicating that Kraken is targeting an initial public offering (IPO) in the first quarter of 2026.
The potential capital raise follows a period of much increased regulatory clarity for the exchange. In March 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed its long-running lawsuit against Kraken, which had accused the exchange’s crypto staking service of constituting an illegal sale of securities.
If the reports are accurate, Kraken joins a broader trend of major crypto firms seeking public capital for the first time. In recent months, reports have surfaced of other major industry players pursuing similar fundraising or IPO plans.
Several well-known crypto companies have already gone public over the past year. These include stablecoin giant Circle Internet Financial, which scored a blockbuster IPO in June, and trading platform eToro in May.
Meanwhile, other crypto firms like custody provider BitGo, as well as crypto exchanges Bullish and Gemini have filed for IPOs this year, while crypto asset-manager Grayscale has recently filed preliminary paperwork ahead of a potential IPO.
Crypto heads to Wall Street
Rajiv Sawhney, Head of International Portfolio Management at Wave Digital Assets International, believes that 2025’s much more pro-crypto regulatory environment in the U.S. is prompting established names like Kraken to pursue public listings.
The analyst pointed out that many of the companies now seeking IPOs were originally funded between 2016 and 2018, but faced limited exit opportunities during the tenure of former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, when numerous top crypto firms were entangled in regulatory lawsuits.
“Now, under the new Trump administration, these OG companies—which are generally profitable and have found product-market fit—are looking to access public markets to fuel their next phase of growth and finally allow early investors to exit,” said Sawhney.
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