Kraken Parent Pushes IPO to Q2 2027 at Earliest

Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, does not intend to launch an initial public offering before the second quarter of 2027, according to a CoinDesk report citing two people familiar with the matter. The company's confidential draft registration statement remains under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A Kraken representative declined to comment to CoinDesk.

The Q2 2027 timeframe is the first specific lower bound named for an IPO process that has already been delayed multiple times. Payward submitted its draft registration statement on November 19, 2025, after raising $800 million shortly beforehand. That round included a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities at a $20 billion valuation. By March, the company had paused its IPO preparations as crypto prices, trading activity and private-market valuations weakened. In April, co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed the confidential filing was still active, coinciding with a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse that valued Payward at $13.3 billion—about 33% below the valuation from Citadel Securities' November investment.

The extended timeline follows a mixed operating quarter. Payward reported adjusted revenue of $508 million for Q2, up 17% year over year, while total platform transaction volume fell 13% to $310 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $23 million. Funded accounts grew 42% year over year to 6.6 million, and customer assets stood at $40 billion. The company has continued to expand beyond Kraken's core spot exchange, completing the acquisition of Bitnomial on May 1 and the purchase of stablecoin payments company Reap on July 1. Later in July, it agreed to buy Magic Labs' wallet infrastructure business.

Payward is not alone in adjusting its listing plans. RedotPay's planned U.S. offering also slipped toward 2027 in August as the payments company sought regulatory approvals. Recent listings have provided uneven comparisons: Gemini shares were about 90% below their IPO-day high by mid-August, after reporting a fourth consecutive quarterly loss since its September 2025 debut. Circle and Bullish completed U.S. listings in 2025, while BitGo became the first major crypto listing of 2026. Grayscale, Consensys and Ledger have also postponed their plans.

Payward has not withdrawn its confidential submission, and the Q2 2027 date is an earliest possible period rather than a commitment to list during that quarter. The company has not publicly disclosed an exchange, ticker symbol, share count or target price for the offering.