Kraken confidentially filed for IPO after valuation cut

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed Tuesday that the company filed a confidential registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November to pursue an initial public offering.

The confirmation came at a world economy conference when a reporter asked whether Kraken planned to go public soon. Asked “Is that news?” Sethi replied, “I believe that’s news,” and confirmed the November filing.

The disclosure followed a $200 million investment by Deutsche Börse in Kraken’s parent company, Payward, for a 1.5% fully diluted stake. That transaction implied a Payward valuation of $13.3 billion, down from roughly $20 billion when the company first filed confidentially.

Kraken has not released further details about the filing or provided a public timetable for an offering. Earlier this year there were unconfirmed reports that the IPO had been paused.

Sethi addressed the timing of a public listing in the context of the company’s longer-term plans and noted that short-term market and policy shifts do not determine the firm’s direction. He said, “If you live day by day, quarter by quarter, these things are meaningful. If you’re thinking about your company three, five, 10 or 20 years out, none of this is meaningful. It just doesn’t matter.”

A confidential SEC filing lets a company begin the IPO review with regulators without publicly disclosing the registration. Kraken’s confirmation keeps open the option of a public offering while the company evaluates market and regulatory conditions.