Kraken's parent company Payward is making new financing at a valuation of $20 billion to accelerate M & A expansion and advance IPO preparations

According to people familiar with the matter, Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency platform Kraken, is conducting a new round of capital financing at a valuation of US$20 billion. Kraken declined to comment. The company has recently significantly increased M & A spending-acquiring Reap, a payment company focused on stablecoins, for US$600 million, and acquiring digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for US$550 million. Both transactions are valued at US$20 billion. Its largest transaction was the acquisition of NinjaTrader, a U.S. retail futures platform and CFTC registered futures commission provider, for US$1.5 billion in 2025, which gave Kraken an important foothold in the U.S. derivatives market. In terms of IPO progress, Payward secretly submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the US SEC on November 19, 2025. Although there were reports in March 2026 that the company suspended its IPO plans due to unfavorable market conditions, sources said the company still intends to go public, but may wait for the market to improve. At last week's Consensus conference in Miami, Payward and CEO Arjun Sethi said the trading platform was "80% ready" to go public. In addition, Deutsche Börse (DB1) purchased approximately 1.5% of Payward's shares for US$200 million through a secondary share sale in April 2026, which valued Payward at US$13.3 billion (lower than the previous financing round's valuation of approximately US$20 billion). In November 2025, Kraken completed US$800 million in two batches of financing to promote the launch of traditional financial products. Investors included Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and TribeCapital. Subsequently, CitadelSecurities also made a US$200 million strategic investment at a valuation of US$20 billion.