Cryptocurrency trading platform Kraken has received $200 million in funding from Citadel Securities in a fundraising round that brings its total valuation to $20 billion, boosting the company’s efforts in digital assets and supporting the platform ahead of its planned stock market listing.
For its part, a spokesperson for the platform confirmed to Fortune that this financing round is considered a strategic investment by the market maker, active for approximately 25 years, and this comes just weeks after the Kraken platform closed a separate financing round worth $600 million in September, which brought its total valuation to $15 billion.
The previous round attracted prominent names from Wall Street and Silicon Valley firms, including Jane Street, DRW, HSG, Oppenheimer, Tribe Capital and the family office of Arjun Sethi – one of the founders and CEO of the Kraken platform – who confirmed the launch of the investment round in an article on Platform X today on Wednesday.
The Kraken platform confirms its previous success by raising $600 million in funding, bringing its funding round proceeds to $800 million.
Kraken publicly confirmed it had raised $600 million for the first time after Bloomberg reported in September that the platform was targeting a total valuation of $20 billion from a strategic backer.
Citadel Securities also plans to work with the platform on risk management and market structure analysis, among other initiatives, according to a statement released by Fortune.
The deal represents a clear change in approach for Citadel, as the company – founded by Ken Griffin – has stayed away from providing market-making services for crypto platforms or direct investment in digital assets due to regulatory uncertainty in the United States.
But after Trump took office in January, the company began considering dealing with major crypto platforms such as Coinbase, Binance and Crypto.com.
The Kraken platform strengthens its balance sheet before offering its shares in a public offering, in collaboration with Citadel consolidating its presence in the world of digital assets.
Citadel’s recent initiatives are not limited to Kraken, as Ripple announced earlier this month that it had raised $500 million from Citadel, Fortress Investment Group and other investors, indicating strong interest from traditional financial institutions in the crypto sector’s robust infrastructure.
As for the Kraken platform, the last two rounds – worth a total of $800 million – have significantly strengthened its balance sheet in preparation for the offering of its shares for the next public offering next year, as the platform plans to use this financing to expand into markets outside of North America and issue new products related to payment activities.
Kraken has also been actively engaged in acquisition activity, with Kraken announcing a series of transactions since January, including the acquisition of futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, strengthening its presence in the derivatives and more complex trading instrument markets.
Citadel’s decisions reflect Wall Street’s expectations that the cryptocurrency business structure will remain strong.
Previously, the Kraken platform only managed to raise $27 million from investment finance institutions, which is relatively modest funding for one of the world’s most prominent digital currency trading platforms, while its latest fundraising took it to the next level, moving closer to traditional financial institutions.
Currently, the platform – based in Wyoming – is preparing to offer its shares to the public in early 2026, as Bloomberg reported that it is coordinating with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to take over management of the IPO, joining the list of big names in the crypto sector seeking to have a presence on the public markets.
In the digital assets sector, Citadel Securities’ $200 million funding investment in Kraken indicates that major market makers are seeing sustained demand for regulated trading platforms, even after a bear market cycle and the accumulation of prior bankruptcies of some of the industry’s most prominent platforms.
Finally, the new valuations also show that leading platforms can still benefit from multi-billion dollar valuations as they reveal their ability to scale globally and follow a clear path to profitability.
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