Kraken's Big Move: Crypto Exchange Raises $800M to Expand

Kraken, a well-known crypto exchange, just secured a massive $800 million investment. This huge sum includes a $200 million contribution from Citadel Securities, a major player in the financial world. The goal? To bring traditional finance into the blockchain era. The funding round was split into two parts. The first part was led by big-name investors like Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and others. The second part was the $200 million from Citadel Securities, which boosted Kraken's value to a staggering $20 billion. Founded in 2011, Kraken offers a range of services, from trading to payment solutions. Its unique setup allows it to quickly launch new products while keeping everything compliant with regulations. Arjun Sethi, Kraken's co-CEO, emphasized their mission: to create a platform where anyone can trade any asset, anytime, anywhere. The involvement of firms like Citadel and Jane Street shows confidence in Kraken's vision. This funding round is a big deal for Kraken, which had only raised $27 million before. Despite limited outside funding, Kraken generated $1. 5 billion in revenue in 2024 and surpassed that by Q3 2025. Over the past year, Kraken has been expanding into multi-asset trading. It acquired NinjaTrader to launch U. S. futures trading, started offering tokenized equities, and introduced KRAK, an app for payments, savings, and investing. Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito praised Kraken as a key player in the next chapter of digital innovation in markets. The firm plans to collaborate with Kraken on liquidity provision and risk management, areas where Citadel has extensive experience. With the new funds, Kraken plans to expand into Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA. It also aims to add more trading tools, institutional products, staking solutions, and payment services. The goal is to meet the growing demand for regulated access to digital and tokenized assets.