Author:yyctrader

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Introduction: Kraken's co-CEO confirmed the secret submission of an IPO application at the World Economic Conference in Washington, while Germany's largest exchange operator invested 200 million USD for a 1.5% equity stake. Valuation of 13.3 billion USD, down 33% from the 20 billion USD during last year's financing, but traditional financial institutions are still betting at this point.

Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed on Tuesday at the Semafor World Economic Conference in Washington that the cryptocurrency exchange has secretly submitted its initial public offering application.

This news comes alongside Deutsche Börse's 200 million USD investment in Kraken's parent company Payward, obtaining about 1.5% fully diluted equity. The deal implies a valuation of about 13.3 billion USD, down 33% from Kraken's 20 billion USD valuation during its 800 million USD fundraising on November 8, 2025.

Kraken initially submitted its S-1 draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 2025, just one day after completing the funding round that received support from Citadel Securities, Jane Street, and DRW Venture Capital. The exchange has not disclosed the scale or pricing of its planned issuance, stating it will finalize terms once the regulatory review is completed and market conditions are stable.

Sethi stated at the conference that the IPO push is part of a broader mission to democratize complex financial instruments. "What they ultimately want is what Citadel and Jane Street have, or what JPMorgan has; they want these things to be accessible to them," he said. "That is our mission: how do we make all these products open?"

Deutsche Börse's investment deepens the commercial partnership initially announced in December 2025, focusing on integrating Kraken's xStocks tokenized stock platform into Deutsche Börse's digital asset infrastructure.

Kraken has been actively expanding in recent months. The exchange launched CME futures trading in October 2025, allowing users to access traditional commodity and index contracts as well as cryptocurrencies. Its xStocks tokenized stock product achieved a cumulative trading volume exceeding 10 billion USD in November, and in March, Nasdaq chose Kraken as the settlement layer for its own tokenized stock program.

The regulatory backdrop has also shifted sharply in favor of Kraken. The SEC dismissed the lawsuit against the exchange in March 2025, not acknowledging any wrongdoing, which is part of the current government's broad retreat from crypto enforcement.

Kraken is the second-largest centralized exchange in the U.S., following Coinbase, which went public through a direct listing in 2021.