From cost cuts to a confidential IPO filing, the strategy reshaping one of crypto’s longest-standing exchanges
When Arjun Sethi stepped in as Co-CEO of Kraken in October 2024, the exchange was at a crossroads. Management was in flux, morale was shaky, and the IPO clock was ticking. Eighteen months on, the picture looks markedly different leaner, faster, and firmly pointed toward the public markets.
WHO IS ARJUN SETHI?
Arjun Sethi — Co-CEO, Kraken · Chairman, Tribe Capital
A Silicon Valley veteran, Sethi co-founded Tribe Capital in 2018 a data-driven VC firm that was an early Kraken investor. He joined Kraken's board in 2021, and when the exchange needed a reset heading into its IPO push, the board turned to its own VC. He runs the company from his Menlo Park home, managing 50–70 direct reports using AI bots he built himself to process the daily flow of information.
WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE HE TOOK OVER
Sethi arrived with a clear mandate: make Kraken leaner and faster. In a joint post with co-CEO David Ripley titled "A New Day," the pair outlined a restructuring that cut management layers and streamlined decision-making. The shakeup was real Kraken's CTO, COO, senior sales staff, and longtime counsel all departed in the months that followed.
"We made a number of changes to eliminate layers and make the organisation leaner and faster."
Beyond the internal overhaul, Sethi pushed Kraken into the convergence of traditional finance and crypto. In 2025, the exchange launched xStocks giving retail traders tokenised access to stocks and ETFs. More recently, Kraken secured a Federal Reserve master account and announced a NASDAQ partnership for tokenised equities.
Financially, the numbers speak for themselves. Kraken posted $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue for full-year 2025 — up 33% year on year.
Key Milestones:
THE IPO: FILED, BUT NO RUSH
On April 14, 2026, Sethi confirmed at the Semafor World Economy Summit in Washington D.C. that Kraken has filed confidentially with the SEC. No timeline has been set. After pausing plans in March 2026 amid softer markets, Sethi has been clear:
"We have enough capital on the balance sheet — we don't want to race to the door just because everyone else is doing it."
A recent investment from Deutsche Börse — a $200 million stake — values Kraken at $13.3 billion, down from a $20 billion peak in late 2025. When the IPO comes, it will mark the culmination of one of the most deliberate turnaround stories in crypto.
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