Kraken Eyes $20 Billion Valuation in Latest Funding Round - September 26, 2025

Kraken wants to raise money at a $20 billion valuation, up from $15 billion last round. In any normal industry, a 33% valuation bump would be aggressive. In crypto, "we didn't steal customer money or go to prison" apparently justifies a $5 billion premium.

Kraken survived the 2022 crypto winter while everyone else imploded. FTX stole $32 billion in customer funds. Celsius froze withdrawals and went bankrupt. Voyager collapsed. Terra Luna vaporized $60 billion overnight. Kraken just... kept working. Revolutionary stuff.

IPO planned for 2026. Smart timing - that's enough distance from the FTX trial and Do Kwon's arrest that people might actually forget crypto tried to steal everyone's money. Morgan Stanley and Goldman are handling it, which means Wall Street finally admits crypto exchanges can make money without committing fraud.

A Real Company Wants In

Someone's willing to write a $200-300 million check at this valuation. Not some FOMO VC fund, but an actual strategic investor - probably a bank or Big Tech company that knows what they're doing.

Strategic money comes with strings attached. They want board seats, partnerships, customer introductions, regulatory connections. Kraken probably needs all that shit for their IPO anyway.

Surviving the Exchange Hunger Games

Kraken's main competition? Coinbase (worth $50 billion on a good day) and whatever's left of Binance after Changpeng Zhao went to federal prison. Coinbase went public in April 2021 at $429/share during peak crypto mania. It trades around $200 now. Turns out going public at 100x revenue during a bubble isn't sustainable.

Kraken's competitive advantage? They're boring. They survived every crypto apocalypse by not doing stupid shit. While FTX was gambling customer deposits and Celsius was offering 20% yields (spoiler: that was a Ponzi scheme), Kraken just ran a normal exchange business.

The Feds Stopped Threatening to Ban Everything

Shockingly, crypto regulation is getting less insane. The SEC stopped suing every crypto company that breathes. The EU's MiCA regulations actually tell you what you can and can't do instead of just threatening prosecution for existing.

Kraken spent years building boring compliance shit while Binance was promoting Dogecoin and SafeMoon. Turns out following KYC laws and not laundering money for terrorists was the right strategy. They operate in 47 countries without getting banned every quarter.

Bitcoin ETFs are trading on real stock exchanges. BlackRock is buying Bitcoin. Even JPMorgan stopped calling it "fraud" (mostly). The fear of governments banning crypto entirely has faded, probably because governments realized they like taxing it.

Whether $20 billion makes sense depends on if crypto volumes keep growing or if we're in bubble 3.0. Kraken's betting on continued growth. Given that literally everyone has been wrong about crypto timing for 15 years, they might be right.

Unlike most crypto companies that burned through cash like drunk sailors, Kraken actually figured out how to make money without constantly fundraising. They're not desperately trying to go public before the money runs out - they're going public because they can.

Here's the thing about crypto exchanges: most of them are run by people who got lucky during the 2017 bubble and have no idea how to build sustainable businesses. Kraken has been around since 2011 and survived multiple crypto winters by not doing stupid shit like lending customer funds to hedge funds or creating their own shitcoins.

They Actually Make Money from Multiple Things (Novel Concept)

While other exchanges are addicted to trading fees that disappear when crypto crashes, Kraken built institutional services that make money regardless of market conditions. Institutional crypto adoption has been driving steady revenue growth. They offer custody for companies that want to hold crypto without worrying about their CFO losing the private keys, and over-the-counter trading for when you need to buy $50 million of Bitcoin without moving the market.

The staking business is basically free money - customers give Kraken their crypto to stake, Kraken takes a cut of the rewards. It's like being a casino where the house always wins, except legal and the customers actually benefit too.

Perfect Timing (Or Incredible Luck)

Kraken's IPO timing might be brilliant or accidentally perfect. Crypto has moved from "internet funny money" to "BlackRock offers Bitcoin ETFs" in less than two years. Even your conservative aunt probably knows what Bitcoin is now, which is either the top signal or the beginning of real adoption.

The exchange survived every crypto disaster while competitors imploded spectacularly. When FTX collapsed, everyone asked "is Kraken safe?" instead of assuming they were also fraudulent. That's the kind of reputation you can't buy - you have to earn it by not being a scumbag for over a decade.

Wall Street Finally Wants In

The fact that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs want to underwrite Kraken's IPO is huge. These are the same banks that called Bitcoin "rat poison" five years ago. Now they're fighting to get a piece of crypto IPO fees because they finally realized the industry isn't going away.

Wall Street banks don't touch anything that might blow up their reputation. The fact that Goldman is willing to put their name on a crypto exchange IPO means they've done serious due diligence and believe Kraken won't turn into another FTX scandal. That's probably the best endorsement Kraken could get.

What This Means for Other Crypto Companies

Kraken just showed every other crypto company the playbook: don't be a scammy piece of shit, follow regulations, and build actual revenue streams. Revolutionary stuff, apparently.

Most crypto companies are still run like get-rich-quick schemes where the founders cash out before the inevitable collapse. Kraken proved you can build a sustainable business by treating customers like humans instead of exit liquidity. Other exchanges are paying attention because they want those IPO valuations too.

The days of crypto companies raising money based on "blockchain will change everything" presentations are over. Investors want to see actual revenue, customer growth, and proof you won't steal customer funds. Regulatory clarity has made institutional investors more comfortable with crypto businesses. Kraken's $20 billion valuation shows that boring, compliant crypto businesses can be worth more than flashy DeFi protocols that promise 1000% APY and inevitably rug pull.

Whether crypto goes mainstream or stays a niche market, Kraken positioned themselves to win either way. That's the kind of strategic thinking that gets you billion-dollar valuations instead of SEC enforcement actions.