Moving the capital to Wyoming, aiming for a hundred billion-level IPO, can Kraken take over from Circle?

Original | OdailyOdaily Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Dingdang (@XiaMiPP)

! [Moving the capital to Wyoming, aiming at a 10-billion-level IPO, can Kraken take over Circle?] ](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-5ecba2664ce4c4cdb28ef7d6030b63a1.webp)

After Circle went public, everything started to accelerate.

On June 5th, Circle was listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time. In less than three weeks, its stock price skyrocketed nearly tenfold, which can be seen as the most symbolic event in the crypto industry in five years, with capital finally re-recognizing the financial nature of "crypto". Especially for those companies that have both regulatory compliance and a clear growth logic.

In fact, in March of this year, Kraken had already disclosed its listing plan to the outside world, but everything was only taken seriously by the market again after Circle successfully went public.

Recently, the cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco announced that it will officially relocate its headquarters to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The reason is that the state's clarity and inclusiveness in digital asset policies are conducive to Kraken establishing a compliant tone and strategic positioning for the public market.

This is not just a geographical migration, but also marks that Kraken is transitioning from being a "participant in decentralized narratives" to a "builder of institutional financial systems".

Wyoming: Not Retreat, but Strategic Relocation

This headquarters relocation is not a passive choice to escape the regulatory pressure in San Francisco, but a deliberate strategic deployment.

Kraken publicly emphasizes that the reason for relocating its headquarters to Wyoming is because the state has long had advantages in cryptocurrency regulations. Wyoming has a regulatory sandbox that allows crypto projects to conduct product testing in a controlled environment, and actively promotes institutional innovations such as stablecoins, DAO legalization, providing an experimental field for the entire industry that is compatible with cutting-edge technology and legal order.

In fact, the interaction between Kraken and Wyoming has long been underway. They have donated $300,000 to the University of Wyoming for blockchain education and have also been involved in hosting local blockchain conferences. More importantly, the state plans to launch the government-issued official stablecoin WYST in August 2025, incorporating digital assets into the local financial strategic framework.

Before going public, setting up the headquarters here is a preemptive deployment made by Kraken in the face of a complex regulatory environment.

Accumulation: A Solid Balance Sheet

Kraken's performance may not have a "breakout point," but it is solid enough.

In 2024, the company's annual revenue reached $1.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 128%; achieving a net profit of $380 million; the total scale of platform assets reached $42.8 billion, with 2.5 million active accounts, and a high annual trading volume of $665 billion, demonstrating stable overall operational performance.

Meanwhile, Kraken's 'proof of reserves' has also become a tool to enhance market trust. In May, the latest data released by Kraken showed that its BTC reserve ratio was 114.9%, which is sufficient to cover user asset demands and provide a security cushion. In response to external expectations for transparency, Kraken has committed to increasing the frequency of reserve audits to once per quarter and gradually including more types of assets to expand the audit coverage. Additionally, Kraken's initiation of fund distribution to FTX creditors indicates an improvement in its ability to handle legacy risks.

All of these measures are three signals that Kraken hopes to convey to the market before the IPO: stable operation, transparent risk control, clear compliance path.

Regulatory Game: Layout of Politics and Policy Paths

It is worth noting the complex interaction between Kraken and SEC.

Earlier, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had sued Kraken, alleging that its staking products constituted an unregistered securities issuance. In 2025, the SEC agreed to dismiss the lawsuit without requiring Kraken to admit wrongdoing or imposing a fine; however, the court did not fully adopt Kraken's legal position that "the SEC lacks authority to regulate crypto".

Nevertheless, the change in the political landscape has opened another door for Kraken.

After Trump was elected, Marco Santori, the Chief Legal Officer of Kraken, resigned and was once on the list of candidates for the new CFTC chairman. At the same time, Kraken also openly recruited Washington policy experts with a Republican background and donated $1 million to the Presidential Inaugural Fund, alongside Coinbase on the political donation list.

Kraken apparently realizes: At this stage, political resources and compliance capabilities are redefining the core competitiveness of cryptocurrency exchanges.

And the success of Circle has already verified one thing: in the right political atmosphere, US stocks can re-embrace the narrative of encryption.

IPO: Not just a financing window, but also a symbol of battle

Kraken's listing is expected to be in the first quarter of 2026, and they plan to complete a round of financing of 2 to 10 billion U.S. dollars before that. They have now started preliminary discussions with Wall Street investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.

It is worth noting that this money is not used to maintain daily operations, but for business expansion. A story that does not rely on financing to get through the winter, but takes the initiative is the version that the capital market most hopes to hear.

Kraken is laying out around the "Infrastructure" tag:
From launching Kraken Prime, benchmarking Coinbase Prime and FalconX; to partnering with European digital bank Bunq to expand retail crypto financial services; to strategically investing in Janover to incorporate it into the pledge business system, jointly expanding the financial landscape.

In addition, they recently completed the acquisition of NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion and began offering traditional financial derivative services to US users. This is one of the largest acquisitions between a crypto company and a TradFi company.

In Europe, Kraken has obtained the EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license through the acquisition of a licensed institution in Cyprus, officially launching compliant derivative business; it has also obtained an EMI payment license in the UK, in conjunction with the global deployment of perpetual contracts and leveraged ETF products.

Even tokenized U.S. stocks have been included in the product roadmap. Assets such as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, etc., will be listed on Kraken's platform in token form, breaking through trading time zone restrictions, achieving 24/7 circulation.

They know that IPO is not just selling a story, but polishing a product line to make it more like a 'infrastructure' company.

In this process, Kraken is trying to complete a deeper brand transition: evolving from a "trading platform" to a "multilateral financial services network".

Conclusion: From Rebel to Competitor within the System

In the early stages of development, Kraken was restrained in aligning with traditional finance. Now, they are submitting an IPO intention to Wall Street, embracing politics, embracing legislation, and embracing a "managing by humans" system.

This is not a betrayal of the original intention, but a proactive growth. The institutional dividend is reshaping the next leader of the cryptocurrency narrative, and Kraken chooses to stand in line before the wind blows.

Circle ignited the first fire of the US stock crypto story, and Kraken may hope to be the igniter of the second beam of fire.