Kraken Is Building Wall Street's Crypto Gateway While Delaying Its Own IPO

Three of the world’s biggest exchange groups are moving their shares onto blockchains through Kraken. Kraken’s parent, Payward, is not ready to list itself. It now targets the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest.

Payward filed a confidential draft registration in November 2025. It paused the process in March 2026. People familiar with the plans point to 2027.

Kraken Builds the Rails Wall Street Wants

On September 1, Payward agreed to tokenize the 100 largest London-listed companies. They become xStocks, tokens backed one for one by real shares. The tokenized London stock plan covers investors in over 110 countries. UK residents and US persons are shut out.

Payward and the London Stock Exchange are partnering to advance the tokenization of UK equity markets.In the coming weeks, the 100 largest London-listed equities will go live as xStocks, bringing 24/7, programmable onchain access to investors in more than 110 countries.…

— Payward (@Payward) September 1, 2026

The London Stock Exchange plans to trade them on LSE 24, its round-the-clock venue, once regulators approve. Payward counts $40 billion in xStocks volume since June 2025 and more than 200,000 holders.

Nasdaq signed a similar deal in March. It is building a gateway with Payward so tokenized shares can cross between regulated venues and public blockchains. That launch targets the first half of 2027.

Deutsche Börse paid $200 million in April for a stake of roughly 1.5%. Even Hyperliquid may reach US traders this way.

Why the Kraken IPO Delay Makes Sense

That April price implies a valuation near $13.3 billion. Payward raised $800 million last November at $20 billion, in a round led by Jane Street and Citadel Securities. Wall Street bought the rails, then marked them down by a third.

The trading business explains the caution. Second quarter adjusted revenue rose 17% to $508 million. Adjusted EBITDA fell 71% year over year to $23 million. Platform volume dropped 18% to $310 billion.

Payward kept buying anyway through crypto’s stalled IPO year. It closed on derivatives venue Bitnomial in May, completing a US regulated derivatives stack it can now rent out.

“The industry around us is consolidating. We built this company so that is when we compound fastest,” Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, in the company’s quarterly letter.

That letter never mentions the listing. The rails are going up for other people’s markets first. Whether public investors pay for infrastructure, rather than trading fees, is the open question.