Payward does not plan to take Kraken public before the second quarter of 2027, CoinDesk reported yesterday (Wednesday), citing two people familiar with the matter. The company has a confidential draft registration statement under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Q2 is the first named lower bound for a process that had already drifted into next year. FinanceMagnates.com reported in May that the prospective listing was moving toward 2027. No quarter was identified.
A Kraken representative declined to comment to CoinDesk. The confidential filing also leaves investors without a public prospectus or an updated timetable from Payward itself.
From Confidential Filing to Q2 2027
Payward submitted its draft registration statement on November 19, 2025. The company had raised $800 million shortly before the filing, including a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities at a $20 billion valuation.
The company said then that it had not determined the number of shares or the price range. Any offering would follow the SEC’s review and remain subject to market conditions.
By March, Payward had paused its IPO preparations as crypto prices, trading activity and private-market valuations weakened. CoinDesk’s latest report said the company remains interested in a listing, but will wait longer for a viable window.
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Co-CEO Arjun Sethi then confirmed in April that the confidential filing remained active. His comments coincided with a $200 million Deutsche Börse investment that valued Payward at $13.3 billion, 33% below the valuation attached to Citadel Securities’ investment in November.
A May report shifted the likely debut into 2027, reversing the brief return to a more immediate timetable.
The Q2 2027 date is an earliest possible period, not a commitment to list during that quarter. Payward has not publicly disclosed an exchange, ticker, share count or target price for the offering.
Revenue Rose While Trading Volume Fell
The longer wait follows a mixed operating quarter. Payward reported adjusted revenue of $508 million for Q2, up 17% year over year, while total platform transaction volume fell 13% to $310 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $23 million. Funded accounts rose 42% year over year to 6.6 million, and customer assets stood at $40 billion, according to Payward’s results.
Payward has kept spending on businesses outside Kraken’s core spot exchange. It completed the Bitnomial acquisition on May 1, closed its purchase of stablecoin payments company Reap on July 1 and agreed later that month to buy Magic Labs’ wallet infrastructure business.
Those transactions expanded Payward across regulated derivatives, payments and embedded wallets before the public listing. They also leave prospective investors waiting for a public filing that shows how the acquired businesses affect its consolidated finances.
Crypto IPO Candidates Face a Mixed Market
Payward is not the only digital-asset company moving its timetable. RedotPay’s planned U.S. offering also slipped toward 2027 in August as the payments company sought regulatory approvals in its operating markets.
Recent listings have given private issuers uneven comparisons. Gemini shares were about 90% below their IPO-day high by mid-August after Gemini reported a fourth consecutive quarterly loss since its September 2025 debut.
Circle and Bullish completed U.S. listings in 2025, while BitGo became the first major crypto listing of 2026. CoinDesk reported that Grayscale, Consensys and Ledger have also postponed their plans as crypto prices and trading volumes weakened.
Payward has not said it withdrew the confidential submission. Its November announcement stated only that an IPO would proceed after the SEC review, subject to market and other conditions, with the size and price range still undetermined.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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