Kraken to go public in 12 to 18 months, says CEO Jesse Powell
Kraken, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, is likely to go public in anywhere between 12 to 18 months, as confirmed by its CEO - Jesse Powell.
Powell, who co-founded the exchange in back 2011, told Bloomberg TV in an interview that the firm is “doing all the prep work” to turn out to be a public company, although he refused to give a target valuation.
“We’re on a mission to bring crypto to the world, and our valuation hopefully will be a reflection of our success in achieving that mission,”
-Kraken CEO Jesse Powell
Kraken was lately discussing to raise funding that would value it at higher than the $10 billion mark and could exceed $20 billion, according to the people well-versed with the affair. Moreover, co-founder and partner of Tribe Capital, Arjun Sethi, recently got involved with Kraken’s board in a sign of its soaring ambitions.
Kraken having more than 6 million clients in approximately 190 countries, makes it the fourth-largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, as maintained by coinmarketcap.com. Coinbase Global Inc., Kraken’s competitor went public previously this year through a direct listing, citing zooming revenue growth.
Powell said Kraken this year has seen more sign-ups than in any previous year and that the initial two months surpassed all of 2020.
While the volume of trading has slowed down due to selloff of Bitcoin in May, Powell held “swing traders” accountable, or people who are new to the market who trade depending on impulse, for aggravating the rout.
Powell persists to be bullish on Bitcoin, prophesying that the coin will go past record highs this year.
It may be a Lambo with fewer options or a smaller engine at this point, but I think we’re still looking at very lofty price targets.
“I’ve said one Bitcoin, one Lambo by the end of the year,” he said, making reference to the sports car Lamborghini which is famous among crypto investors. “It may be a Lambo with fewer options or a smaller engine at this point, but I think we’re still looking at very lofty price targets.”
