Kraken's IPO: Not Dead, Just Playing Hard to Get

Kraken's market valuation has taken a bit of a skincare routine detour, dropping from $20 billion down to $13.3 billion since the company confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC back in November. But before you start drafting the eulogies, the crypto exchange has been dropping hints faster than Bitcoin drops below round numbers—it's still planning to go public, despite whispers in March suggesting the whole thing got tossed into the freezer due to market conditions.

An unconfirmed report in March floated the idea that Kraken's IPO might be frozen tighter than your grandma's secret cookie recipe. But at the Semafor World Economy 2026 conference on Tuesday, co-CEO Arjun Sethi decided to play it cool when reporter Rohan Goswami asked whether there were plans to take Kraken public anytime soon. Sethi confirmed the company had indeed "confidentially filed" for an IPO.

"Is that news?" Goswami asked, probably wondering if he'd just uncovered something or gotten punk'd.

"I believe that's news," Sethi responded, delivering the most passive-aggressive confirmation in crypto since someone said "no worries" while clearly having all the worries.

Cointelegraph reached out to Kraken for comment on whether the IPO is actively being pursued or has been quietly shelved like that gym membership, but did not receive an immediate response. Shocking. Truly. We're shocked.

Sethi's little confirmation cameo came the same day Deutsche Börse Group decided to throw $200 million at Kraken's parent firm, Payward, securing a 1.5% fully diluted stake. That little maneuver priced Kraken at $13.3 billion, which is a lovely 33.5% haircut from the $20 billion valuation just months prior. Kraken clarified to Cointelegraph that the Deutsche Börse investment is all about bridging the gap between crypto and traditional finance,