Kraken, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, has attracted the attention of $5.3 billion London-based investment trust RIT (Rothschild Investment Trust) Capital Partners, which acquired a stake in the exchange.
According to a note published to investors by James Glass, the possibility of a direct listing in 2022 and the role the exchange plays in the growing crypto ecosystem had sparked the interest of RIT Capital in Kraken.
The note does not specify the value of RIT capital’s investment in the crypto exchange but seems to be positive when it comes to the future of the exchange, comparing it with another titan of the industry which recently went public in NASDAQ.
Kraken’s talks with investors were also mentioned by Glass, who referred to the potential of new fundraising to give the exchange a valuation of up to $20 billion. Some of the investors taking part in the discussions seem to include Fidelity, Tribe Capital, and General Atlantic.
With the continued growth of the cryptocurrency market over the past decade, which has accelerated over the last 2 years in an unprecedented way, Cryptocurrency Exchanges have grown in popularity as they become some of the most profitable business in the industry, attracting investors in a way never seen before in the industry.
Coinbase Performance Is Being Observed by Kraken
While there is still more than 8 months before the possible listing of Kraken, the interest in going public has already been discussed in an interview with CNBC by the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jesse Powell.
He stated that the company is considering going public at some point during 2020, with the chosen method being most probably a direct listing. This was the same method chosen by Coinbase to go public, which Coinbase’s CEO referred to as “more true to the ethos of crypto”.
Powell also said the company was in no hurry to raise capital at this time but was focusing on bringing “more strategic investors” that boosted the expansion of the exchange in terms of geography and its economy.
“We’ve kind of been delaying a bit to see where the Coinbase valuation comes in at. I suspect that the price is gonna pump much higher than it has been trading at.”, Powell added when referring to the potential investment round.
Coinbase’s Direct Listing Success Is Sparking a Race for Innovation
Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange to be publicly traded on April 14th, marking a milestone for the entirety of the cryptocurrency industry and bringing the entire ecosystem to NASDAQ’s spotlight.
While the trading of COIN, the ticker for the exchange’s shares, experienced volatility at the start of the listing as investors assessed its performance, the listing has widely been considered a success, even being nicknamed “the Google of cryptocurrencies” by some media outlets.
The success of the listing has resulted in Coinbase launching “Project 10 Percent”, which aims to boost innovation in the blockchain industry by diverting 10% of the company’s resources to support innovative ideas in the ecosystem.
Surojit Chatterjee, Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, referred to the project by stating:
“By maintaining our culture of repeatable innovation through these 10 Percent projects, we’ll be in a position to continue building powerful, simple, and compelling product experiences that define the future of our industry.”
The company believes that while it is certainly not possible for all tests in the project to succeed, these risks are warranted to continue moving the company and industry forward as history has shown that Coinbase’s most successful products started as disruptive bets that involved a high-risk tolerance.
