Payward Pushes Kraken IPO to 2027 Amid Market Cooling

Payward submitted a confidential draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025, a move that allowed the firm to initiate regulatory review without immediate public disclosure of its financials. Despite this administrative step, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi has framed the listing as a pursuit of regulatory trust rather than an urgent need for public capital. The company remains well-capitalized, having secured an $800 million financing round at a $20 billion valuation shortly before its SEC filing, with Citadel Securities contributing $200 million.

While the IPO timeline recedes, Payward is pivoting its business model to reduce reliance on volatile spot crypto trading. Second-quarter adjusted revenue climbed 17% to $508 million, even as platform transaction volumes dipped 13% to $310 billion. The company has aggressively expanded into derivatives and tokenized assets through acquisitions, including the $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader and the $550 million takeover of the CFTC-regulated exchange Bitnomial. These moves, alongside the acquisition of payment firm Reap Technologies, reflect a broader strategy to institutionalize its services while waiting for a more hospitable environment to enter the public markets.