Kraken’s parent company, Payward, has postponed its planned initial public offering (IPO) until at least the second quarter of 2027, according to reports citing people familiar with the matter.
The revised timetable represents another delay for the proposed listing, after weaker cryptocurrency prices and reduced trading activity disrupted the company’s earlier plans.
Payward had initially prepared to enter the US public markets after a revival in cryptocurrency listings during 2025. However, the subsequent decline in digital asset prices and lower market volumes made it more difficult to maintain that schedule.
Reports on Wednesday said the company had moved the offering to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. The Reuters report could not be independently verified, while a Kraken spokesperson declined to comment on the listing.
Payward confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025. A confidential filing allows a company to begin the SEC review process without immediately making its financial statements and other disclosures public.
Kraken co-chief executive Arjun Sethi confirmed the filing at an industry conference in April. He said access to public capital was not the company’s main motivation for seeking a listing, with regulatory trust and Payward’s long-term plans more important considerations.
Payward paused its multi-billion-dollar offering in March as challenging market conditions weakened demand for newly listed crypto companies. Any IPO in the second quarter of 2027 would still depend on SEC approval, wider market conditions and Payward’s final decision to proceed.
Because the draft S-1 remains confidential, the company has not disclosed a proposed share price, stock ticker, exchange or the number of shares it intends to sell.
Crypto listings lose momentum
Shortly before making its confidential filing, Payward completed an $800m financing package split across two tranches. The transaction valued the company at $20bn and provided further private funding ahead of the proposed flotation.
Citadel Securities contributed $200m through a strategic investment, according to a crypto.news report in November. The funding also supported Payward’s expansion into regulated derivatives, tokenised financial products and international markets.
Expectations for cryptocurrency companies entering the public markets had risen after Circle Internet Group and Bullish completed IPOs in 2025. A number of other digital asset businesses also began preparing offerings, prompting hopes that the sector would produce another wave of US listings in 2026.
Those expectations later weakened. Falling cryptocurrency prices, lower trading volumes and disappointing share performance at some recently listed companies reduced investor appetite. Grayscale, Consensys and Ledger all postponed their listing plans while waiting for more supportive market conditions.
Ledger halted preparations for a possible US flotation that could have valued the hardware wallet company at about $4bn. It had appointed Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Barclays as advisers, although it had not filed a draft S-1, according to a May report.
BitGo, described in that report as the only crypto-native company to have listed during 2026 at the time, was trading 36% below its January IPO price. Its performance provided another reference point for privately held cryptocurrency businesses assessing demand from public-market investors.
Payward expands beyond spot trading
While its listing remains on hold, Payward has continued to broaden its operations.
The company’s second-quarter results showed adjusted revenue of $508m, 17% higher than in the same period of 2025. Funded accounts rose 42% year-on-year to 6.6 million, while assets held on the platform reached $40bn.
Asset-based and other revenue represented 60% of total adjusted revenue, according to Payward’s financial report. However, trading activity was weaker, with total platform transaction volume falling 13% year-on-year to $310bn as spot cryptocurrency activity slowed.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined to $23m.
The company’s first-quarter figures had already indicated that newer business lines were helping to reduce its reliance on spot crypto trading. In May, Payward reported adjusted revenue of $507m, a 3% annual rise, despite Bitcoin falling 22% during the quarter and industry-wide spot trading volume dropping 38%.
Average daily revenue trades in futures increased by 51% in the first quarter, helped by NinjaTrader, Breakout and Bitnomial. Funded accounts stood at 6.1 million at the end of that period, before rising to 6.6 million three months later.
Adjusted EBITDA was $18m in the first quarter as Payward invested in acquisitions, product development and regulatory infrastructure. The company also cut about 150 jobs in May, equivalent to roughly 5% of its workforce, as part of a cost restructuring.
Acquisitions support wider strategy
Payward has used acquisitions and new product launches to expand into derivatives, tokenised stocks and payment services while its shares remain privately owned.
In 2025, it bought NinjaTrader, a US retail futures platform, for $1.5bn. It also acquired Bitnomial, a derivatives exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in a $550m deal, and added Breakout, a proprietary trading platform for qualified users.
Bitnomial provides Payward with a regulated channel for offering derivatives to eligible customers in the United States. In August, Hyperliquid Labs and Payward entered advanced discussions about bringing selected Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures to the US through the platform, according to a recent report.
Products offered through Bitnomial would operate under rules enforced by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Bitnomial Exchange is registered as a designated contract market, while NinjaTrader Clearing operates as a registered futures commission merchant under the Kraken Derivatives US name.
Payward has also expanded into tokenised equities through its acquisition of Backed Finance, the issuer behind Kraken’s xStocks products. The deal gave Payward greater control over the infrastructure used to issue and trade blockchain-based representations of shares and exchange-traded funds.
In May, the company agreed to buy Hong Kong-based payments firm Reap Technologies for $600m in cash and stock. The transaction valued Payward shares at the same $20bn level established by its financing round.
Reap’s addition gives Payward stablecoin-based cross-border and commercial payment services as the company continues to develop businesses beyond cryptocurrency spot trading.
