3 years ago
119 RIT Capital has acquired an ownership stake at Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange. Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange that has over 6 million clients.
RIT Capital Partners, an investment trust based in London, has announced that they have gained a stake in Kraken. Kraken is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that has more than 6 million clients.
RIT Capital is an investment trust company that has a market cap of over $5 billion. The firm’s acquisition of Kraken happened in March, where the investment trust points out the growth potential of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Kraken’s growth curve
Kraken has been following the growing trend of other cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. The main attributor of the growth is the rising value, adoption, and popularity of cryptocurrencies. In the past few months, this firm has recorded rising trading volumes because of the crypto surge.
Kraken is also expected to go public sometime next year, according to several reports. The firm will go public via a direct listing where the exchange stakeholders will be able to sell part of their shares to the public. According to RIT Capital, the exchange is expected to reach a valuation of $20 billion at the time of listing.
The exchange platform is also looking for more investors who will participate in funding rounds and raise the company’s valuation. The firms that Kraken is interacting with for funding include Tribe Capital, Fidelity, and General Atlantic. According to Kraken’s CEO, Jesse Powell, the public listing was delayed to evaluate how the Coinbase direct listing will perform.
Coinbase’s direct listing
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, had its public listing on April 14. This move has prompted other exchanges, among them Kraken, to initiate a public listing to strengthen their balance sheet. The increasing trading volumes caused by the increasing values of cryptocurrencies lead to the rising valuations of these companies.
Coinbase went digital after setting its reference price at $250. Their shares were listed at NASDAQ under the ticker symbol ‘COIN.’ Since listing, the company shares have risen to an all-time high of $420. However, the shares have since dropped, and they are currently trading at $311.
In its direct listing, Coinbase saw some of its executives gain significant proceeds. Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the company, sold 749,999 shares that were worth $292 million. Before the listing, Coinbase had released its first-quarter financials depicting $333 billion trading volumes.
