Payward is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it stacks acquisitions and prepares to revive its IPO, though secondary trades imply a lower mark.
Posted May 12, 2026 at 5:27 am EST.
Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is raising new capital at a $20 billion valuation, according to a CoinDesk report citing two people familiar with the matter. The fundraise comes as Payward ramps up acquisitions and prepares to revive IPO plans it paused earlier this year.
The new round matches the valuation attached to a string of recent moves. Last week, Kraken agreed to acquire stablecoin-focused payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million, following last month’s $550 million purchase of derivatives exchange Bitnomial. Both deals were priced off the $20 billion mark. The largest acquisition in the run remains NinjaTrader, the U.S. retail futures platform Kraken bought for $1.5 billion in 2025.
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At Consensus Miami last week, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company is “80% ready” to go public. Payward confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC in November, but paused listing plans in March amid unfavorable market conditions. Sources told CoinDesk the firm remains interested in an IPO once conditions improve.
The $20 billion number is not without complication. In April, German exchange operator Deutsche Börse bought a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Payward for $200 million, a secondary transaction that implied a valuation closer to $13.3 billion. The gap reflects the broader difficulty of pricing crypto infrastructure companies during periods of uneven market sentiment.
Payward’s investor list has continued to fill out. Last November’s $800 million raise brought in Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and Tribe Capital, with Citadel Securities later adding a separate $200 million strategic investment at the $20 billion valuation. The company’s acquisition strategy, expanding from spot trading into derivatives, payments, custody, and tokenization infrastructure, is aimed at building the kind of diversified, recurring revenue base that public-market investors prefer.
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