Crypto exchange Kraken, which announced plans to go public four months ago, has put the plan on hold, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The company is still considering an IPO, but probably not until market conditions improve, said the sources, who requested anonymity because the matter is private.
A Kraken spokesperson said: “As we announced in November, we have filed a confidential filing with the SEC, and that’s all we can really share.”
The slowdown in crypto markets since October, when bitcoin hit a record high, made companies more cautious about going public or raising new capital, with falling asset prices and low trading volumes weighing on valuations and investor confidence.
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, said it confidentially filed a proposed S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with a proposed initial public offering of common stock on November 19.
That was the day after Kraken said it was valued at $20 billion when it raised $800 million in new funding, including a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities, to support its efforts to bring traditional financial markets onto blockchain infrastructure.
Last year, a more favorable environment at the SEC helped several large companies, including Circle Internet (CRCL), CoinDesk parent Bullish (BLSH), and Gemini Space Station (GEMI), successfully list their stocks. PitchBook data shows that at least 11 cryptocurrency IPOs raised a total of $14.6 billion in 2025, a big increase from just $310 million in 2024.
Cryptocurrency IPOs in 2026 are shaping up to be a crucial test for the sector as more infrastructure companies consider going public. However, so far, cryptocurrency custodian BitGo is the only digital asset company to list and has seen its share price fall 44%, partly due to a disorderly market.
Unlike Kraken, Securitize, a tokenization company that works closely with asset management giant BlackRock (BLK), said it still plans to go public. The company plans to pursue an IPO as soon as it receives the green light from the SEC, likely in the second quarter.
“We previously raised $225 million via a PIPE in our SPAC merger when market conditions were better and interest in tokenization continues to be strong despite market conditions,” Securitize founder and CEO Carlos Domingo told CoinDesk.
If 2025 was defined by quotes linked to digital asset treasuries (DATs), 2026 appears to be a year focused on financial infrastructure, according to Laura Katherine Mann, partner at White & Case.
In an interview with CoinDesk, she said the next wave of IPO applicants will likely highlight compliance maturity, recurring revenue and operational resilience, qualities that more closely align with traditional public market expectations.
Kraken fired its chief financial officer, Stephanie Lemmerman, earlier this year, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Learn more: Cryptocurrency custody company Copper begins initial negotiations for an IPO as crypto ‘plumbing’ becomes Wall Street’s new favorite.
UPDATE (March 18, 3:23 p.m. UTC): Adds details about the departure of the CFO in the final graph)
