invezz.com
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is planning to go public through direct listing next year. The decision by the exchange is coming after seeing an increased level of new clients and trading volume within the platform.
It’s also worth mentioning that Kraken is following the same route as its competitor Coinbase, which will go public on April 14 via a direct listing.
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Kraken was founded in 2011 as a cryptocurrency exchange. It has grown to become one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, with over 6 million clients.
The recent Bitcoin rally benefited the exchange
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Kraken, Jesse Powell, said recently in an interview that the Bitcoin rally has benefited the exchange immensely. In Mid-march, the top cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of $60,000 following the increased interest of institutional traders.
The exchange posted first-quarter direct revenue of $1.8 billion, which is higher than its entire revenue for the hole of 2020. “The first quarter just completely blew away the entirety of last year,” Powell stated.
The cryptocurrency market has not only impacted positively on Kraken, as other companies have benefited immensely as well. In the first quarter of the year, Robinhood recorded an all-time high of 9.5 million users trading cryptocurrency, according to the firm’s blog post. This figure is higher than the number of users for the fourth quarter of last year by more than 5 times.
Powell stated that a direct listing is a more likely route for the company, given that it has expanded to the extent of accommodating such type of listing.
Regarding the time of the deal, Powell stated that the exchange is looking to make its stock market debut next year.
“We’re looking at being able to go public sometime next year,” Powell reiterated.