Kraken’s valuation has escalated to $20 billion after the U.S.-based crypto exchange announced that it raised $800 million in two tranches in the last two months. Among the fundraising activities, there was a strategic investment by Citadel Securities, which is one of the most significant institutional endorsements for a crypto exchange going public in the near future.
As Kraken moves towards a listing on the stock exchange early next year, it has been aggressively expanding its reach through acquisitions and operational scaling.
Prominent institutional investors lined up to participate in the first tranche of the funding round. The investors include Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management, and Tribe Capital. Kraken also announced that co-CEO Arjun Sethi’s investment in his family’s office was significant enough to signal a strong internal belief in the exchange’s going-forward direction.
The subsequent occasion results in a $200 mln strategic investment by Citadel Securities, which adds a lot of market infrastructure expertise to Kraken’s ecosystem. Jim Esposito, the President of Citadel Securities, said that the collaboration would involve liquidity support, risk management capabilities, and market structure insights that would help to consolidate Kraken’s competitive position.
Before the expected IPO of Kraken, the company has been busy with worldwide expansion. Most of the growth has been through selective acquisitions. In fact, Kraken just bought Small Exchange for $100 million to improve its U.S. derivatives offering. The company has also gained more strength in the executive leadership team as a result of a reorganization at the top. Arjun Sethi was made co-CEO in October 2024 alongside David Ripley.
In the first quarter of 2025, Kraken was able to increase its revenue to $472 million; the growth rate year over year was 19%. The Chainbull is reporting that in October, Kraken’s trading volume amounted to $40.5 billion, which is the highest among USD trading pairs-supported cryptocurrency exchanges and thus ranks them as one of the top exchanges. Sethi emphasized that this latest financing was like a “loudest and strongest vote of confidence” in Kraken’s goal of creating “trusted, regulated infrastructure for the open financial system” and, therefore, the list of new investors reflects not only the market size for the product but also the common vision for financial architecture of the future.
Crypto evolves every second—make sure you don’t miss a beat. Visit Chainbull for expert insights, detailed market breakdowns, and trusted updates from the world of blockchain and digital assets.
