Kraken Raises $800M From Citadel, Other Institutions At $20B Valuation Ahead Of Reported 2026 IPO

Crypto exchange Kraken has raised $800 million over the past two months at a valuation of $20 billion as the company eyes a potential 2026 Initial Public Offering (IPO).

According to a recent announcement by the company, the raise was across two tranches. Kraken said that it will use the funding to “accelerate its strategy of bringing traditional financial products on-chain.” 

Citadel One Of The Institutions That Invested In Kraken

The primary investment tranche was led by institutional investors. These firms included Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management, and Tribe Capital. Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi’s family office also made a significant investment in this tranche.

A follow-on $200 million was invested by the market-making giant Citadel Securities. 

“We’re excited to support Kraken’s continued growth as it helps shape the next chapter of digital innovation in markets,” Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito said in a statement. 

In addition to the investment, Citadel Securities’ collaboration with Kraken will include “differentiated liquidity provision, risk management expertise, and market structure insights,” the announcement said. 

The investments in the past two weeks follows a September report from Bloomberg that said that kraken was in talks to raise “$200 million to $300 million commitment from a strategic investor.” 

Kraken To Expand Its Product Suite And Global Presence With The New Funding

Kraken added that it will continue to scale its global operations, deepen its regulated footprint, and expand its product suite with the new funding. This will be done “both organically and through targeted acquisitions,” the exchange added. 

Kraken said that it also plans to enter new markets across Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA, while simultaneously “broadening its offerings beyond crypto to include additional asset classes, advanced trading tools and staking solutions, expanded payment services, and enhanced institutional capabilities.” 

Kraken has been actively expanding its global operations ahead of a reported IPO for early next year. Most recently, the company bought Small Exchange for $100 million, enabling Kraken to launch a US derivatives trading platform.

Kraken has integrated US futures trading  as well through its acquisition of NinjaTrader.

Kraken’s New Raise Marks A Turning Point For The Exchange

Founded in 2011, Kraken operates a regulated trading platform that offers spot and derivatives markets, tokenized assets, staking, and payment services. 

Top crypto exchanges by trading volumes (Source: CoinMarketCap)

Kraken has since become one of the most popular exchanges globally, and currently ranks at number 14 in terms of daily trading volumes. 

Kraken restructured in October last year with Tribe Capital co-founder Sethi, who took the reins as the exchange’s co-CEO alongside David Ripley. 

The $800 million that Kraken has raised in the past fortnight marks a turning point for the exchange, which has opted to keep outside funding low. Up until this raise, the exchange had only taken in $27 million in outside funding.

That’s because the exchange has generated robust revenues. 

“Kraken has demonstrated sustained profitability, generating $1.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and surpassing that figure within the first three quarters of 2025,” the exchange said in its announcement. 

Kraken’s Potential IPO Will Take Advantage Of Friendlier US Regulatory Climate

If Kraken does go public next year, it will be the latest crypto-native firm to get listed. Earlier this year, Circle debuted on the public market. Similarly, Peter Thiel-backed digital trading platform Bullish also went public, followed by crypto exchange Gemini. 

The series of public listings comes amid a friendlier crypto regulatory environment in the US under the Donald Trump administration.

Previously, firms operating in the industry were targeted by the former administration via the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which was then led by Gary Gensler. 

Kraken itself was targeted by the SEC, who said the company operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency in a November 2023 lawsuit.

After Trump entered the White House for a second term in January and crypto-friendly Paul Atkins took over from Gensler a few weeks later, Kraken announced in March that the agency’s staff had agreed in principle to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. Kraken also said that it would not pay penalties, admit any wrongdoing, or change its business.