Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is not expected to pursue an initial public offering until the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest, CoinDesk reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The Wyoming-based company confidentially filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025. That filing came days after Payward raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation, including a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities.
Payward later paused the listing process in March as crypto prices declined. The company said thinner trading volumes and compressed valuations made the timing unworkable. By May, reporting had already suggested that the public debut could slip into 2027.
Other crypto firms have also delayed listing plans
Payward is not alone in waiting. Asset manager Grayscale, Ethereum software developer Consensys, and hardware wallet maker Ledger have all postponed listings this year. That followed successful 2025 market debuts from Circle and Bullish.
The business kept expanding while the IPO was on hold
Operations continued to move ahead even as the listing timeline slipped. Payward reported adjusted second-quarter revenue of $508 million, up 17% from a year earlier. Funded accounts rose 42% to 6.6 million, and assets on the platform reached $40 billion.
The company also remained active on the acquisition front. It closed its $550 million purchase of derivatives venue Bitnomial in May, completed its $600 million acquisition of stablecoin payments firm Reap in July, and then agreed to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet infrastructure business.
London Stock Exchange partnership
On Tuesday, the London Stock Exchange said it would work with Payward to bring large U.K. stocks onchain.