Cryptocurrency companies have been some of the biggest names flocking to this year’s IPO market, but major US exchange Kraken (KRAK.PVT) is one industry player that’s in no hurry to dive into that world.
“We have enough capital on our balance sheet today as a private company, and we don’t want to rush out the door as quickly as possible,” Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, said during an interview at Yahoo Finance’s Invest event.
Sethi said he is also wary of any kind of perception that the company should go public “just because everyone else is doing it.” And he added: “The good thing about these companies coming out first is that they are educating the market about what is good and what is bad, what the margin is like, how you make money…”
Kraken, arguably one of the oldest crypto exchanges in existence and formally known as Payward Ventures, has operated since 2011. As of the end of last year, it had only taken in $27 million in primary external capital.
That changed earlier this year, when the company quietly raised $500 million from private investors, including Apollo Global Management, Oppenheimer and Jane Street, in a funding round that valued the crypto company at $15 billion, according to a Fortune report. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
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The company is currently considering another round of between $200 million and $300 million at a valuation of $20 billion, according to a Bloomberg report from late September.
While Kraken may not have plans to raise funds on the public market anytime soon, the company has begun sharing its financials publicly in recent quarters.
Last month, it reported that revenue doubled during the third quarter from the same period a year earlier to $648 million, while its trading platform recorded $562 billion in transaction volume during that same period.
Crypto companies have flocked to the IPO market this year, including stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL), Winklevoss exchange Gemini Space Station (GEMI), Bullish (BLSH), and Figure Technology (FIGR).
All of its stocks have been in the red for the past month as cryptocurrency prices have witnessed a sharp correction in valuations after hitting highs earlier this year.
Since its successful debut this summer, Circle shares are up 22% so far this year, while blockchain-based lending platform Figure is down 4%. Meanwhile, crypto exchanges Bullish and Gemini are down 56% and 66%, respectively.
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Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments joined its peers by filing its S-1 prospectus on Thursday.
Following the U.S. government shutdown, which has slowed the pace at which companies can work with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public, there aren’t many good weeks left for IPOs in 2025, according to Matthew Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital.