Kraken: From A Crypto Pioneer To An Everything Exchange

TL;DR

• Kraken is now a multi-asset exchange with the goal of gaining leadership in tokenisation, which has the potential to redefine asset ownership
• Kraken, as a crypto native, secure and regulated entity, is perfectly positioned to act as a bridge into decentralised finance for users and institutions
• Kraken plans to go public in 2026 to scale its vision and grow into a multi-business financial institution

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In the past 12 months, Kraken has gone from a crypto exchange to a multi-business financial platform with 5.7M funded accounts across 190 countries. Kraken has grown into a multi-asset exchange, launched a payments app, introduced financial services features, and opened its infrastructure to banks and fintechs. While today investors may view Kraken as an ordinary crypto-native platform, in this post, we will explain three key roles where Kraken aims to play in the transition from traditional financial infrastructure to a next-gen financial exchange, positioning itself as a leading financial conglomerate.

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Acting as a multi-asset always-on exchange

Today, through Kraken, users can trade FX, ETFs, tokenised equities, commodities, derivatives, alongside crypto assets. This move could be viewed as a decision to compete with traditional brokerage infrastructure. Rather, the company is positioning itself for the transition of such assets onto the blockchain through tokenisation. Tokenisation is predicted to have a large impact on financial markets by redefining asset ownership. Tokenised versions of stocks, bonds, real estate, and RWA will be tradable across geographic barriers, enabling fractional ownership and 24/7 trading. Deutsche Bank predicts tokenised assets will reach $3-4T in market cap by 2035. Kraken aims to be a leader in tokenisation, and to that end, it has acquired Backed Finance, the second-largest issuer of tokenised equities, which controls 23% of the market. This acquisition unifies issuance, trading, and settlement, providing Kraken with the infrastructure to tokenise assets beyond equities, such as real estate and bonds, which could then be traded on Kraken.

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Acting as a safe gateway to Decentralised Finance

Decentralised finance can provide significant value to everyday users; however, its applications are difficult for beginners to use and carry risks. Kraken, a regulated platform, is building products/services that act as a secure bridge for traditional finance users. In June 2025, Kraken introduced Krak App, a blockchain-powered payments app focused on peer-to-peer payments, offering zero-fee transfers to 160+ countries. Since its release, Krak App has had 450,000+ downloads and has become a key competitor to B2C payment infrastructure against TransferWise, Remitly, and others. Furthermore, Kraken now allows users to earn up to 8% APY on their stablecoins and cryptocurrencies, which could cause competition with traditional savings accounts as stablecoin adoption increases.

Decentralised finance offers such advantages by reducing the number of fee-taking intermediaries; however, to access it, users typically have to interact with complex protocols or transact with unregulated entities. Kraken allows users to outsource risk management protocols to a regulated counterparty. Additionally, for Kraken, such products have a low marginal cost as they are built on their existing infrastructure layer. The company can introduce borrowing/lending, insurance, and more, enabling anyone with an internet connection to access high-quality, secure financial services and build an all-in-one financial platform.

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Enabling crypto for every business

Kraken’s infrastructure comprises licenses, liquidity, custody solutions, and risk management protocols across multiple jurisdictions. Kraken is lending out this infrastructure to businesses through solutions such as Kraken Embed and Kraken Ramp. Embed caters to fintechs, banks, and financial institutions that want to include crypto trading in their suite, whereas Ramp caters to businesses that want to accept crypto payments worldwide. Kraken handles all backend functions, allowing for simple integration. These solutions are already being used by leading institutions such as Bunq and Deutsche Börse Group. The thesis for introducing such services is clear: large institutions are looking to enter the world of decentralised finance and crypto, but they do not want to build the required infrastructure. Kraken can lend such institutions the infrastructure at close to no cost to the company, monetise through a share of the volume. These solutions also create network effects for Kraken, increasing trading volume and assets under custody and locking users in across products.

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Going public to scale the vision

Kraken has been in the crypto industry since 2011, built with the purpose of being the first professional exchange. This purpose has largely been achieved, as the company is a leader in security practices and regulatory compliance. Today, the goal is to position the company as a platform that bridges traditional finance and decentralised finance. This will mean allowing users to access multiple assets, make payments, and borrow/lend without leaving the Web 3.0 ecosystem, and providing institutions with the required infrastructure to do so in their own platforms. Kraken has confidentially filed its S-1 and could go public in Q1 2026. This move is meant to support the company in scaling its vision and solidifying its position as a compliant, institutional-grade platform.

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Why Kraken is a key investment in Wealt Portfolio?

At Wealt, we conduct deep due diligence across every sector we invest in, building long-term convictions designed to capture the next decade of growth. Kraken is one of those convictions.The financial services industry still runs on infrastructure built decades ago, layered with intermediaries, restricted by market hours, and fragmented across borders. Blockchain technology offers a structural alternative: frictionless settlement, fractional ownership, and 24/7 access. The question is not whether this transition will happen, but which platforms are positioned to lead it. Kraken has been at the forefront of this infrastructure and has already passed the initial consolidation stage. Kraken's recent leadership transition under co-CEO Arjun Sethi has accelerated the company's evolution from a globally regulated crypto exchange into a multi-asset financial platform that combines tokenised securities, DeFi yield products, cross-border payments, and institutional infrastructure under a single regulated entity. That breadth puts Kraken in direct competition with incumbents like Revolut in banking, Robinhood in retail trading, and Wise in cross-border transfers, but with a cost structure built on blockchain rails rather than legacy banking infrastructure.

With a planned IPO as early as 2026, Kraken is approaching an inflection point. For Wealt investors, this represents an opportunity to access a crypto-native financial conglomerate at pre-public valuations before the market prices in the full scope of its ambition.

At Wealt, we run independent research on companies shaping this transformation, giving our community access to opportunities historically reserved for institutions. If you would like to explore these insights or access upcoming allocations, you can apply to join the Wealt platform.

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_{All investments carry risk, including the possible loss of capital, and past performance is not a guide to future returns. This opportunity is suitable only for sophisticated investors who understand and can bear those risks.}

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