Kraken parent Payward seeks fresh funding at $20 billion valuation ahead of planned IPO

Payward, the parent company of crypto platform Kraken, is raising new capital at a $20 billion valuation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Kraken declined to comment on the raise.

The latest fundraising round comes as the company ramps up spending on takeovers.

Most recently, it bought stablecoin-focused payments firm Reap for $600 million and digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million as it continues to scale up ahead of a planned IPO. Payward was valued at $20 billion in both transactions.

Its biggest deal came in 2025 with the $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader, a U.S.-based retail futures platform and CFTC-registered futures commission merchant. The acquisition gave Kraken a major foothold in the U.S. derivatives market while expanding its reach to a broad base of active futures traders.

Payward said it confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 19, marking the first step toward a potential public listing.

CoinDesk reported in March that the company had paused its IPO plans amid unfavorable market conditions. Sources said the firm remains interested in going public, though likely only once market conditions improve.

At Consensus Miami last week, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the exchange is “80% ready” to go public.

Kraken is a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange that lets users buy, sell and trade digital assets, including bitcoin and ether, using either fiat currencies or crypto. The company has expanded beyond spot trading into products such as derivatives, staking and custody, transforming itself into a broader full-service crypto platform.

In recent years, the Wyoming-based firm has adopted a more focused but increasingly strategic acquisition strategy aimed at expanding beyond core crypto trading into derivatives and broader multi-asset market infrastructure.

Deutsche Börse (DB1), the owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Xetra, announced in April that it had taken a $200 million stake in Payward.

The stake, acquired through a secondary share sale, represented roughly 1.5% of the company. The transaction valued Payward at $13.3 billion, down from the roughly $20 billion valuation attached to previous fundraising rounds. Payward did not receive any proceeds from the transaction.

Last November, Kraken said it had raised $800 million in two tranches to support its push into bringing traditional financial products onchain. The round included backing from investors such as Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital and Tribe Capital, while Citadel Securities later agreed to a separate $200 million strategic investment at a $20 billion valuation.

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