Every Kraken IPO plan has failed

Kraken delayed its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday to at least April 2027. If the reader has lost count of how many times it has delayed, Protos is here to help.

The exchange has been hyping its IPO for over half a decade, and was previously very confident it would IPO in 2022.

In April 2021, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell told CNBC, “We’re looking at being able to go public sometime next year.”

He’s still looking.

By June 2021, according to Fortune, Powell reconsidered a direct listing after Coinbase’s debut. He delayed slightly to a “second half” of 2022 prediction in that article.

However, by September 2022, that target still looked doubtful. Incoming CEO Dave Ripley told a reporter, “No specificity on IPO plans that we can share.” 

The year ended with only delays and no IPO.

In June 2024, Bloomberg reported that Kraken was raising “final” pre-IPO financing for an IPO that never happened.

Then, in March 2025, the same outlet reported that Payward — the parent company of Kraken —  was re-scheduling its IPO for January-March 2026.

By November 2025, Payward had actually submitted a draft IPO document to the SEC on Form S-1. Its announcement said an offering was expected after SEC review.

Reuters reiterated its first quarter 2026 forecast.

Read more: Kraken customer data allegedly for sale on dark web

By March 2026, CoinDesk reported that Payward had put the IPO on hold and was unlikely to proceed. Reuters said it couldn’t independently verify the delay, which ended up being true.

One month later, Kraken pleaded with the public to trust that it hadn’t abandoned its IPO plans. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed formal IPO filings in April 2026, without naming an updated listing date.

At the Consensus conference on May 5, Sethi called Kraken “about 80% ready” for IPO and swore, “We’re ready.” 

Within two weeks, however, Bloomberg reported that the IPO would push back to 2027.

Wednesday’s CoinDesk report further delayed the IPO to the second quarter of 2027.

Shares of Kraken still don’t trade on any public stock exchange. For nearly six years, the IPO is delayed.

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