Key Highlights

  • Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation ahead of a planned IPO, according to sources familiar with the matter, after confidentially filing a draft S-1 with the SEC in November 2025.

  • Co-CEO Arjun Sethi told Consensus Miami attendees the company is "80% ready" to go public, following a year of acquisitions including NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, Bitnomial for $550 million, and payments firm Reap for $600 million.

  • Deutsche Börse purchased a 1.5% stake in Payward for $200 million in April in a secondary transaction, implying a valuation of roughly $13.3 billion and creating a gap with the $20 billion fundraising target.

Payward, the parent company behind crypto exchange Kraken, is seeking fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it builds toward a potential public listing, according to sources familiar with the matter. Kraken declined to comment on the fundraising. The company took its first formal step toward an IPO in November 2025 by confidentially submitting a draft S-1 registration statement to the SEC, though it subsequently paused its listing plans amid unfavorable market conditions.

At Consensus Miami earlier this month, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company is "80% ready" to go public. Over the past year, Payward has used acquisitions to expand well beyond spot crypto trading. Its largest deal was the $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader, a U.S. retail futures platform regulated by the CFTC, followed by the $550 million acquisition of digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial and a $600 million deal for stablecoin-focused payments firm Reap.

The $20 billion target sits meaningfully above the valuation implied by the exchange's most recent disclosed transaction. In April, German exchange operator Deutsche Börse acquired a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Payward for $200 million in a secondary deal, a price that values the company at roughly $13.3 billion. The difference between that figure and the reported fundraising target reflects how much the valuation depends on public market appetite and the strength of the IPO window at the time of listing.

Kraken's move toward public markets is part of a broader wave of crypto companies testing institutional investor appetite for listings in 2026. The IPO pipeline has been building since late 2025 as U.S. regulatory conditions became more predictable and digital asset prices recovered. A Kraken listing at the upper end of its target range would rank among the largest public offerings in crypto history and will be watched closely as a signal of how public markets are currently pricing the sector.