Kraken
The second-biggest US crypto exchange, now selling stocks, futures and payments too. It filed to go public, then paused, and was last valued at a reported $21 billion.
Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026- Valuation
- $21B reported, when Nasdaq invested $100M in Sept 2026.
- Raised
- About $827M of new money ever: $27M before 2025, then $800M in 2025.
- Revenue
- $2.2B in 2025, up 33%, with $531M of adjusted EBITDA.
- Watch
- IPO paused filed in secret Nov 2025; not before Q2 2027, as reported.
- AI
- Agent-ready an open-source CLI and MCP server let AI agents trade.
- Liquidity
- No staff tender found outside investors have bought existing shares, but no employee program is public.
- Hiring
- 78 → 85 remote listings since Oct 10.
Less than half its money now comes from trades.
Kraken earns trading fees on crypto, stocks and futures, plus money from assets customers park with it: staking, balances and other services. In 2025 trading was about 47% of revenue; by Q2 2026 asset-based and other revenue was 60%.
The Block, Aug 14, 2026; Finance Magnates, Feb 4, 2026- 1Licences in more than 100 placesPayward says it holds over 100 licences and registrations, adding Dubai's full VARA approval in Oct 2026.Payward, Oct 12, 2026
- 2A regulated US futures stack it boughtNinjaTrader ($1.5B, nearly two million traders) in 2025, then the CFTC-regulated Bitnomial, closed May 1, 2026.The Block, Aug 14, 2026; NinjaTrader, Mar 20, 2025
- 3Direct access to banking railsA limited Federal Reserve account since Mar 2026, and a deal to buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank, closing 2027.Fortune, Oct 14, 2026
- Robinhood$76.6Blisted, Oct 30 close
- Coinbase$38.0Blisted, Oct 30 close
- OKX$25.0Bprivate, Mar 1
- Kraken$21.0BStrategic investment, Sep 10
- Bullish$3.59Blisted, Oct 30 close
- Gemini$376Mlisted, Oct 30 close
Private values are the last reported round; they can be stale. Listed values are market value. Bars start at zero.
Every round, and what its terms give away.
Kraken is private, so there is no share price. What its investors paid, and on what terms, is the closest thing to one.
- $21.0B
- latest valuation, Strategic investment Sep 10
- $827M
- raised in all
- $2.20B
- annual revenue, as of Dec 31
- +33%
- growth, as reported
Adjusted EBITDA $530.6M in 2025. In Q2 2026, adjusted EBITDA was $23M on $508M of adjusted revenue, as volume fell.
Finance Magnates, Feb 4, 2026 (company-reported); The Block, Aug 14, 2026Post-money valuations as reported. The line starts at zero. Rounds without a reported valuation are left off.
- Sep 10Strategic investment$100M at $21.0BLed by Nasdaq Ventures. About 0.5% of the company, if all new sharesReported by Bloomberg citing people familiar; not said whether new or existing shares.Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026
- May 8Equity tied to a business combination$354MLed by Not namedForm D: $354.2M of $400.6M sold to 36 investors. Timing matches the Bitnomial close, but the filing does not name the deal.SEC Form D, filed Jun 23, 2026
- Apr 14Secondary sale$200M at $13.3BLed by Deutsche Borse1.5% fully diluted stake; $13.3B is Bloomberg's implied figure, not confirmed by either side.The Block, Apr 14, 2026
- Nov 18Strategic tranche$200M at $20.0BLed by Citadel Securities. About 1% of the company, if all new sharesSecond tranche of the $800M raise.Payward, Nov 18, 2025
- Sep 26Primary tranche$600M at $15.0BLed by Jane Street, DRW, HSG, Oppenheimer, Tribe Capital. About 4% of the company, if all new shares$600M is Kraken's $800M total less Citadel's $200M. Press in Sept reported $500M at $15B.Finance Magnates, Sep 26, 2025; Payward, Nov 18, 2025
- Down round?Deutsche Borse's April 2026 purchase implied $13.3B, a third below Nov 2025's $20B. Nasdaq's Sept 2026 deal at a reported $21B is back above it.Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026Flag
- How much the last round soldNasdaq's $100M at $21B is about 0.5% of the company; Citadel's $200M at $20B about 1%. Small, strategic stakes.Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026Clear
- Time since the last raiseAbout seven weeks: Nasdaq's investment was reported Sep 10, 2026.Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026Clear
- Unusual termsNo terms reported for any round. A Dec 2025 Form D lists $260M of options or warrants offered, none sold; what they are is not public.SEC Form D, filed Dec 30, 2025Open
- Who ledOutside names: Jane Street, DRW and others in 2025, then Citadel Securities, Deutsche Borse and Nasdaq. The co-CEO's family office also invested.Payward, Nov 18, 2025Clear
- Employee liquidityNo staff tender offer found. Deutsche Borse bought existing shares in April 2026, but who sold was not disclosed.The Block, Apr 14, 2026Open
- Layoffs in the last 12 monthsAbout 150 jobs cut in May 2026, tied to AI, as reported by Bloomberg. Kraken said only that it reviews its structure regularly.Cointelegraph, May 18, 2026Flag
Clear: checked, nothing found. Flag: found, with the source. Open: could not be checked.
Confidential draft S-1 submitted Nov 19, 2025; paused Mar 2026; not before Q2 2027 per CoinDesk sources (reported).
What the record says, and what we think it means.
The fact is the source's. The read, in italics, is ours.
- 01Watch
Filed to go public, then hit pause.
Finance Magnates, citing CoinDesk, Sep 3, 2026Payward confidentially submitted a draft S-1 on Nov 19, 2025, paused in Mar 2026, and per CoinDesk sources will not list before Q2 2027.
Equity here stays illiquid for at least another year or so. The filing has not been withdrawn, so a listing is a when, not an if, if markets cooperate.
- 02Watch
Profit fell hard in the spring quarter.
The Block, Aug 14, 2026Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA was $23M on $508M of adjusted revenue. Full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA was $530.6M.
Revenue held up as trading volume fell 13%, but costs grew faster. Profit is very sensitive to the crypto cycle.
- 03Watch
About 150 jobs cut, tied to AI.
Blockhead, May 18, 2026Bloomberg reported in May 2026 about 150 cuts, roughly 5% of about 3,000 staff, after AI deployments. No further cuts planned, per a source.
Cuts were modest and framed as efficiency. Support and operations roles look most exposed.
- 04Watch
Valuation swung by a third in five months.
Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026$20B in Nov 2025, an implied $13.3B in Apr 2026, then a reported $21B in Sept 2026.
Private marks here track crypto prices. A grant's paper value can move a lot before any IPO.
- 05Watch
Insider data incidents in April 2026.
Bitcoin Magazine, Apr 14, 2026Kraken disclosed two insider-related incidents; limited data on about 2,000 accounts was accessed. No trading systems or client funds were hit.
Small in scale, but insider risk is a live issue at exchanges. Expect strict access controls for staff.
- 06Good
Buying its way beyond crypto.
The Block, Aug 14, 2026NinjaTrader ($1.5B, 2025), Bitnomial (closed May 2026), Reap (Jul 2026), Magic Labs' wallet business (agreed Jul 2026).
A serial buyer. More product lines, more integration work, and possibly more roles in futures and payments.
- 07Neutral
Set to own a European bank.
Fortune, Oct 14, 2026Payward agreed in Oct 2026 to buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank, closing in 2027 pending approval. Terms not disclosed.
It would be the first crypto-native firm to own an EU bank: deposits, loans and cards, with bank-style rules attached.
- 08Good
Big exchanges are investing.
Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026Citadel Securities, Deutsche Borse and Nasdaq each bought stakes in 12 months, with Nasdaq and Deutsche Borse also partnering on tokenized stocks.
Strategic backers make a listing or deeper ties more likely. They also make Kraken part of traditional market plumbing.
Legal is paid 2% under market. Marketing, 18% under.
We save every company's roles, pay by team and level, AI share and churn every day, so each month this page can say more. Sparklines use their own scale.
Can AI agents do business with Kraken?
We checked the agent payment programs, developer docs and site rules an AI assistant would meet.
Built for agent traders. No agent payment rails yet.
Still Remote read- YesAn MCP server for AI agentsThe open-source Kraken CLI runs as an MCP server for tools like Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, with a paper trading mode.Kraken blog, Mar 11, 2026
- YesGuardrails on live tradingBy default the MCP server places no live orders and moves no funds. Live trading must be switched on, with approval per risky call.checked Oct 31, 2026
- YesDeveloper docs that AI tools can readdocs.kraken.com publishes an llms.txt index of its APIs, CLI and MCP tools.checked Oct 31, 2026
- Not found
- YesLets AI crawlers read its siteNo AI bots named. Every bot is blocked only from /u/ and /lp/.checked Oct 31, 2026
- Not foundAgent payment protocols (Google AP2, x402, OpenAI checkout)No announcement found tying Kraken to any of them.Searched Oct 31, 2026
Where Kraken puts AI to work.
- 1AI already replaced some jobsAbout 150 roles were cut in May 2026 after AI deployments, as reported. A source said AI is being used more widely across the company.Cointelegraph, citing Bloomberg, May 18, 2026
- 2A team building internal agentsA Kraken posting describes an Agent Systems team building AI agents that work directly with company systems to automate internal workflows.Kraken job posting (expired), checked Oct 31, 2026
More listings than on Sep 7, led by engineering.
What Kraken puts on its own channel.
Short videos from Kraken's official YouTube channel, played here. We only use a channel that links app.kraken.com and carries the company's name.
- AI Stocks Beat Earnings, Then Sold Off - Bitcoin & the Fed | Macro Minute188 views
- Dave Portnoy on the Krak Card354 views
- Kraken is now live in ChatGPT209 views
- Bitcoin is caught between #ai and #oil77 views
- 20% Pullbacks in a Bull Market? Build Your Plan Now66 views
- What’s the #durian of your portfolio?160 views
- One Year Since #bitcoin's $125K ATH: This Cycle Looks Different -MacroMinute150 views
- Combien de cryptos en 30 secondes ?582 views
What has to be true for $21 billion to hold?
The starting revenue is Kraken's own reported figure. A way to think, not a forecast, and not investment advice.
At 10x, Kraken needs $2.1 billion of revenue to be worth $21 billion. Your world gets there with $3.9 billion, so the next round likely prices above the last.
$100,000 of equity valued at the $21.0B Strategic investment price would be worth about $185,313 on paper in this world, before dilution from new rounds, taxes and vesting. Private shares only turn into cash at a sale, an IPO or a tender offer.
A way to think, not a forecast, and not investment advice.
Payward, Nov 19, 2025; Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026The signals, and which way they push.
- TailwindBecoming more than a crypto exchange.
Asset-based and other revenue reached 60% in Q2 2026, with stocks, tokenized stocks and futures growing.
- TailwindOpening new countries fast.
Full approval in Dubai (Oct 12), in-principle approval in Kazakhstan, MiCA authorization in Europe, and an EU bank deal.
- HeadwindCrypto trading is slowing.
Platform volume fell 13% to $310B in Q2 2026, and adjusted EBITDA dropped to $23M.
- TailwindWall Street wants in.
Citadel Securities, Deutsche Borse and Nasdaq all invested within a year.
Where Kraken ends up, if we had to bet.
Our calls, not facts. Each one is tied to something that already happened, so you can judge the reasoning.
- 1
Kraken is a listed US company before 2031.
Likely 72%IPOIt has a live confidential S-1 and the co-CEO called it about 80% ready. The delay is about markets, not a withdrawal, and strategic backers favour a listing.
Blockhead, May 18, 2026; Finance Magnates, Sep 2026 - 2
Someone buys Kraken outright.
Long shot 16%M&AAt about $21B it would be a huge deal, and Kraken is the buyer in its own deals. Its exchange backers bought small stakes, not control.
Decrypt, Sep 10, 2026 - 3
Most of Kraken's revenue comes from things other than crypto trading fees.
Likely 72%ProductsAsset-based and other revenue was already 60% in Q2 2026. Stocks, futures, payments and a planned EU bank all push the same way.
The Block, Aug 14, 2026 - 4
AI agents place a large share of Kraken's retail orders.
Coin flip 50%AIIt shipped an MCP server for agents in 2026, ahead of most exchanges. But no agent volume has been disclosed, and live trading is off by default.
Kraken blog, Mar 11, 2026 - 5
Kraken closes the gap with Coinbase in the US.
Coin flip 50%CompetitionIt bought NinjaTrader and Bitnomial for US futures and has Fed payment access. Coinbase remains larger and listed, with cheaper capital.
Fortune, Oct 14, 2026
Read by the Still Remote research agent on November 1, 2026 from the sources linked on this page. Facts and scenarios only, not investment advice.