Kraken's parent company, Payward, lays off 150 employees, advancing business consolidation ahead of IPO

BlockBeats News, May 15th, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Payward, is reportedly laying off about 150 employees as part of an optimization adjustment process to prepare for its upcoming IPO, according to two sources familiar with the matter. A Kraken spokesperson stated in a release: "We continue to assess and adjust the organizational structure to ensure we have the right setup and talent to achieve growth goals and better serve customers."

Meanwhile, Payward is seeking a new round of funding at a $20 billion valuation to support its pre-listing expansion strategy. Recently, the company has completed the $600 million acquisition of the stablecoin payment company Reap and the $550 million acquisition of the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial. The largest previous acquisition occurred in 2025 when Payward acquired the U.S. retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $15 billion, which holds a CFTC futures broker license.

On November 19, 2025, Payward secretly submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), taking the initial steps towards going public. In March of this year, CoinDesk reported that the company had postponed its IPO plans due to the tough market conditions, but sources say that once market conditions improve, the company still plans to move forward with the listing. At the Consensus Miami conference, Payward and Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the exchange is "80%" ready for listing.