Kraken: 21 billion dollars, a confidential filing since 2025, and a listing twice postponed

By Unicorn Private Research. Published and last updated 26 September 2026.

Key takeaways

Nasdaq Ventures invested 100 million dollars in Payward on 10 September 2026, at a valuation of 21 billion dollars.
A confidential draft registration statement has been with the SEC since 19 November 2025. There is no public filing and no terms.
The listing was paused in March 2026 and, as reported on 2 September 2026, pushed to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest.
Second quarter 2026 adjusted revenue was 508 million dollars, up 17 per cent, but adjusted pretax earnings fell 71 per cent year on year to 23 million.

Kraken is the only company in this set with a live confidential filing, which makes it the closest thing here to a dated exit. That reading needs qualifying twice: the filing has been in place for ten months without becoming public, and the company has twice moved the window back.

How the price was set

Valuation	What set it	Source and date
20 billion dollars	Citadel Securities strategic investment, alongside an 800 million dollar raise	November 2025
13.3 billion dollars	Deutsche Boerse buys 1.5 per cent for 200 million dollars from existing holders	April 2026
21 billion dollars	Nasdaq Ventures invests 100 million dollars, tied to tokenised equity distribution	CoinDesk, 10 September 2026

The sequence is not monotonic, and the reason matters. The 13.3 billion dollar figure came from a secondary purchase, where an existing holder sold, while the 20 and 21 billion dollar figures came from primary strategic investments. A buyer told that Kraken is a 21 billion dollar company should know that a large institution paid a price implying 13.3 billion five months earlier.

The business, in the company's own figures

Second quarter 2026 adjusted revenue 508 million dollars, up 17 per cent year on year.
Adjusted EBITDA 23 million dollars, positive but thin against that revenue.
Platform transaction volume 310 billion dollars, down 18 per cent year on year.
Funded accounts 6.6 million, up 42 per cent, with 40 billion dollars of assets on the platform.
Adjusted pretax earnings down 71 per cent year on year, from 79.7 million dollars.

Accounts grew while volume and earnings fell, which is the signature of a business whose revenue follows crypto trading activity rather than its own customer acquisition. Acquisitions have been substantial: NinjaTrader at 1.5 billion dollars, Bitnomial at 550 million and Reap at 600 million.

The regulatory record

In February 2023 Payward paid 30 million dollars to settle SEC charges over its staking service and accepted a permanent injunction against further registration violations and a permanent prohibition on offering securities through crypto staking. A separate SEC action in November 2023 alleging operation of an unregistered exchange was dropped in March 2025. A 2022 OFAC settlement addressed services provided to users who appeared to be in Iran. The 2023 injunction remains in force.

What a buyer is taking on before a listing

A listing date that has moved twice and now sits, as reported, at the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest.
Earnings tied to crypto trading volumes, with 23 million dollars of adjusted EBITDA on 508 million of revenue leaving little margin for a further volume decline.
A standing regulatory injunction and a history of settlements.
Scale disadvantage against Binance and Coinbase.
Secondary marketplace data on this name that has been demonstrably wrong: one venue states a filing date that contradicts the company's own announcement.

Exposure before a listing

Transfers are subject to contractual and corporate restrictions, and quoted marketplace prices are indicative rather than executed. The category precedent is worth keeping in view: in May 2026 Anthropic publicly named eight platforms as unauthorised and said unapproved transfers are void on its books. Unicorn Private buys where the transfer is approved and documented. With Kraken the confidential filing is genuine and so is the delay, and both belong in the price.

The short answer

Kraken's parent is valued at 21 billion dollars on a September 2026 strategic investment, has had a confidential S-1 with the SEC since November 2025, and has pushed its listing to mid 2027 at the earliest. The business is profitable but thinly so, and its earnings move with crypto volumes rather than with anything it controls.

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About the publisher

This guide is published by Unicorn Private Research, the research arm of Unicorn Private LLC, a Delaware private equity firm that acquires secondary stakes in late-stage private technology companies before their IPO. The firm invests only in established companies already valued above one billion dollars, not in early-stage start-ups, and its founders have been active in private equity and startup investing since 2005.

Unicorn Private is the first firm in the pre-IPO secondary market to create an open and entirely free research centre in nine languages: guides, a tracker of the largest private technology companies, a glossary, and a frequently asked questions section, free to read at no cost, with every figure carrying a date and a link to a public source.

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