Payward, the parent company of crypto platform Kraken, is raising new capital at a valuation of $20 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Kraken declined to comment on the increase.
The latest fundraising comes as the company accelerates its spending on buybacks.
Most recently, it bought stablecoin-focused payments company Reap for $600 million and digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, as it continues to expand ahead of a planned IPO. Payward was valued at $20 billion in both deals.
Its largest deal occurred in 2025 with the $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader, a U.S.-based futures retail platform and CFTC-registered futures commission merchant. The acquisition gave Kraken a significant position in the US derivatives market while expanding its reach to a broad base of active futures traders.
Payward said it confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 19, marking the first step toward a possible public listing.
CoinDesk reported in March that the company had suspended its IPO plans amid unfavorable market conditions. Sources said the company remains interested in going public, but probably only once market conditions improve.
At Consensus Miami last week, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the exchange was “80% ready” to go public.
Kraken is a United States-based cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, and trade digital assets, including bitcoin and ether, using fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies. The company has expanded beyond spot trading and expanded into products such as derivatives, staking and custody, transforming into a broader full-service crypto platform.
In recent years, the Wyoming-based company has adopted a more focused but increasingly strategic acquisition strategy aimed at expanding beyond core crypto trading into derivatives and broader multi-asset market infrastructure.
Participation of Deutsche Börse
Deutsche Börse (DB1), owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Xetra, announced in April that it had taken a $200 million stake in Payward.
The stake, acquired through a secondary sale of shares, represented approximately 1.5% of the company. The deal values Payward at $13.3 billion, down from the roughly $20 billion valuation attached to previous fundraising rounds. Payward did not receive any proceeds from the transaction.
Last November, Kraken said it had raised $800 million in two tranches to support its efforts to bring traditional financial products online. The round included support from investors such as Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital and Tribe Capital, while Citadel Securities later agreed to a separate strategic investment of $200 million at a valuation of $20 billion.
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