Kraken has confidentially filed for a US IPO, co‑CEO Arjun Sethi confirms

IPO filing and valuation drop

It has been reported that Kraken, the San Francisco–based crypto exchange, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the United States, co‑CEO Arjun Sethi said at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC. The move formalizes earlier whispers that Kraken was preparing to go public. An April investment round valued the company at $13.3 billion — a sharp retreat from a roughly $20 billion peak in late 2025. Ouch. Investors, take note: value is not a straight line up.

Strategy: bringing Wall Street tools to retail traders

Sethi framed the IPO as part of Kraken’s broader mission: to give non‑professional investors access to trading capabilities historically reserved for firms like Citadel, Jane Street and big banks. “What they want at the end of the day is what Citadel and Jane Street have… we want it accessible to them,” he said. Ambitious? Absolutely. Necessary? Many retail traders would say yes. Can Kraken thread the needle between compliance, complexity and the regulatory scrutiny that comes with public markets? That’s the big question.

AI, timing and market context

Sethi also argued that fears of AI wrecking software companies are overblown, noting that software already runs most businesses and AI is simply proliferating faster. Timing for an IPO in the current macro and geopolitical environment — with market jitters and a broader slowdown in IPO appetite — is tricky. But Kraken is not alone in trying to turn growth into liquidity; Coinbase’s public debut still looms as a cultural reference point for crypto exchanges going mainstream. Whether Kraken can convert its mission and its new, lower valuation into a successful public company remains to be seen.

Sources: semafor.com