Kraken Valued at $20B After Major Funding Round Led by Wall Street Firms

The crypto exchange landscape has shifted drastically over the past two years. Some platforms are downsizing, some are chasing profitability over expansion, and others are waiting for regulatory clarity before making their next move.

Kraken, however, has chosen a different interpretation of the moment: now is the time to scale, not pause.

Instead of pulling back, the company has raised $800 million in fresh capital, lifting its private valuation to $20 billion, and signalling that it sees the current phase of the market as one worth doubling down on.

Wall Street Has Joined the Table

The most striking part of the deal is not the dollar figure — it’s the names attached.
Citadel Securities, a giant in traditional financial market-making, contributed $200 million in the second tranche of the raise. The move makes Citadel more than a passive investor. It will advise Kraken on liquidity design, risk models, and market structure, effectively importing decades of Wall Street trading expertise into the exchange.

Citadel’s investment comes only weeks after it contributed to Ripple’s $500 million raise, suggesting a broader institutional push into digital asset infrastructure rather than speculative trading.

A Deep Bench of Backers Means Confidence — Not Rescue

The first tranche of the funding round wasn’t lightweight either.
It attracted Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Tribe Capital and included a large contribution from Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi’s family office. The mix of investors paints a clear picture: institutional capital hasn’t lost interest in crypto — it has simply become more selective about where it deploys it.

Kraken appears confident that it is one of the players worth betting on.

Global Expansion Take Priority

With the funding secured, Kraken says the plan is not to sit on the capital. The exchange is preparing to scale its presence across Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, expand the number of regulated jurisdictions in which it operates, and roll out new product verticals — including acquisitions if needed.

The message is that the crypto industry is not shrinking — it is reorganizing — and Kraken intends to grow into whatever form the next era takes.

The IPO Question Isn’t Going Away — But It’s Not Urgent

Kraken has been tied to IPO rumors ever since Coinbase’s public listing in 2021, and speculation rose again as U.S. regulatory pressure began easing this year. But co-CEO Arjun Sethi has now set expectations more clearly: going public is an option, not a need.

Sethi explained in an interview with Yahoo Finance that the company is already well-capitalized and financially secure, and that the latest raise reinforces that confidence. Kraken doesn’t appear interested in becoming public for validation — only if it aligns with long-term strategy.

For now, the company seems content operating without the scrutiny of public markets while pursuing rapid international growth.

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