Kraken
Location
Wyoming
Founded
2011
Invested
2025
Category
Crypto
Kraken is building core financial infrastructure for the digital-asset economy. With Kraken Pro for advanced spot/margin trading, Kraken Futures via its Crypto Facilities acquisition, and Kraken Financial—a Wyoming-chartered SPDI bank offering qualified custody—Kraken combines platform breadth with bank-grade foundations for institutions and retail alike. It’s also extending its reach with an open-source, self-custodial Kraken Wallet.
Founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell (Payward, Inc.) and historically based in San Francisco, Kraken operates globally across spot, margin, and derivatives markets, and provides custody and institutional services. Recent product moves include launching Kraken Wallet (Apr 2024) and rolling out Kraken Institutional and qualified custody anchored by its SPDI charter (launched Mar 2024). Regulatory history includes a Feb 2023 SEC settlement to end U.S. staking-as-a-service and a Nov 2023 SEC complaint—subsequently dismissed with prejudice in 2025.
Kraken represents a rare convergence of consumer reach, market plumbing, and regulated banking capability. Its derivatives lineage (via Crypto Facilities/CF Benchmarks powering CME reference rates), SPDI-based custody stack, and self-custody wallet position it to bridge TradFi and crypto while serving both institutions and active traders.