Key highlights:

  • Payward is not planning to go public until the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest
  • The company first paused its listing plans in March due to the bear market
  • Adjusted revenue rose 17% year over year in the second quarter, but trading volume fell 13%

Kraken’s parent company, Payward, has delayed the timeline for its internal public offering yet again. According to reports, the Kraken IPO is not expected before the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest, extending a wait that has stretched past original plans.

New timeline defers Kraken IPO to 2027

The company filed a draft registration statement with the U.S. SEC back in November 2025 after raising $800 million from investors at a $20 billion valuation. Payward said at the time that it had not yet determined a share count or price range, and that any offering would depend on market conditions after the SEC review.

By March, the conditions changed after Payward paused its preparations for listing amid falling crypto prices and trading volumes. 

However, Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in April that the confidential filing is still active, even as a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse valued the company at $13.3 billion. This was a third below the valuation tied to November's investment, which came from Citadel Securities.

There were already suggestions in May that the Kraken IPO could be delayed to 2027 after the exchange cut 150 staff as it leans more on AI to boost efficiency, according to Bloomberg.

Payward keeps growing despite listing setbacks

The company’s underlying business has kept growing even with the roadblocks. Adjusted revenue climbed 17% year over year to $508 million in the second quarter, and funded accounts grew 42% to 6.6 million, according to its Q2 reports. 

Customer assets on the platform reached $40 billion. Total platform transaction volume also slipped 13% to $310 billion in the same period. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $23 million.

While the Kraken IPO is delayed, the company used the extra time to expand its business base beyond just the crypto exchange. It completed its acquisition of derivatives platform Bitnomial in May. 

The firm also bought stablecoin payments platform Reap in July, and agreed to buy Magic Labs' wallet infrastructure business in the same month. 

These deals are all part of a bid to turn the exchange into a full financial services platform, similar to Binance’s recent moves.

Crypto-backed IPOs take a hit 

The delayed Kraken IPO follows a variation of public listing delays in the crypto space. More crypto firms are looking towards trading on the stock market after Circle and Bullish completed successful launches in 2025. BitGo also made its debut earlier this year. 

All of these plans have slowed down due to weakness that has plagued the market since October 2025. There have also been a couple of disappointing performances from some recently listed digital-asset companies. 

For instance, Gemini stock was trading about 90% below its opening-day high in mid-August. This came after the company posted a fourth straight quarterly loss since going public last September.

That has made other firms delay their listing plans. Grayscale, Consensys and Ledger have all postponed their offerings. RedotPay also saw its planned U.S. listing pushed to 2027 partly due to regulatory challenges in its operating markets.