Veteran exchange Kraken announces IPO! An S-1 document has been filed confidentially with the SEC and could go public as soon as early next year.
Kraken, an established U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, issued an official announcement on the evening of November 19, confirming that it had "confidentially submitted" a draft Form S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early November 2025, officially launching the IPO listing process.
(Preliminary information: Reuters: Kraken is expected to submit an IPO application at the end of the year and go public in Q1 next year. It raised 500 million mg in September and received support from Apollo and Jane Street)
(Background supplement: Kraken’s valuation has soared to 20 billion U.S. dollars! It is conducting a new round of financing to prepare for the IPO next year)
The old American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken issued an official announcement on the evening of November 19, confirming that it has In early November 2025, a draft Form S-1 registration statement will be "confidentially submitted" to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to officially launch the IPO listing process.
After Gemini was successfully listed on the US stock market in September this year and Grayscale recently submitted its listing application, this is another heavyweight cryptocurrency platform joining the ranks of the US capital market. It shows that the industry is ushering in a new wave of "listing boom" in the context of a friendly regulatory environment.
Although Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi has publicly stated on many occasions that he is "not in a hurry for an IPO" and emphasized that the company is financially healthy and that revenue in 2024 will exceed US$1 billion, in the face of competitors successively landing on the public market and the high interest of market funds in crypto stocks, Kraken ultimately chose to accelerate the listing plan.
What is a "confidential filing" S-1?
The so-called "confidential filing" is a common preparatory operation for U.S. IPOs, which allows companies to privately modify documents back and forth with the SEC before they are officially made public to avoid premature exposure of financial data and business secrets. The S-1 form is the core document for an IPO in the United States. It covers details such as the company's operating model, financial statements, major risks, amount and use of funds raised, etc.
At present, Kraken has not yet decided on the number of shares to be issued and the price range. It will not enter the roadshow and pricing stage until the SEC completes its review and is declared effective. It is expected to complete the listing as soon as the first quarter of 2026.
Who is Kraken? Why the spotlight?
Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the oldest and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges in the world by institutional investors. It currently supports the trading of more than 450 digital assets and has expanded to traditional financial products such as U.S. stocks, ETFs, and futures. Kraken is also the first exchange in the world to proactively publish "Proof of Reserves" and has long been known for its transparency and security.
In the current market context, the U.S. Trump administration’s attitude toward cryptocurrencies has significantly warmed, and regulatory pressure has been significantly reduced; Bitcoin and Ethereum have hit record highs this year; competitors such as Gemini, Circle, eToro, and Bullish have successively submitted or completed listings... These factors have made Kraken’s IPO highly anticipated by global investors, and the market even has bold estimates that its valuation may fall in the tens of billions of dollars.
