A new wave of crypto companies is preparing to go public as regulatory conditions improve and private capital options narrow. These IPOs signal the industry’s broader shift from speculative platforms toward regulated financial infrastructure.
In 2025, crypto companies raised $3.4 billion in the U.S. stock market. Circle and Bullish each raised over $1 billion, while Gemini’s stock climbed 14% on its Nasdaq debut. By January 2026, BitGo rang the bell at the NYSE, jumping 24.6% on its first day and reaching a market capitalization of $2.6 billion.
These pioneers proved one thing: Wall Street is willing to pay for compliant crypto infrastructure. The pipeline for 2026 is even larger. The industry’s pick and shovel providers, including exchanges, wallets, custody, and security firms, are steadily moving toward public markets.
Let's examine each company.
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Kraken: The $20 Billion Compliance Benchmark
Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the oldest exchanges in the industry. Its listing comes five years after Coinbase, a period during which it navigated SEC lawsuits and eventually saw charges dismissed in March 2025.
Its financial data is robust:
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2024 Revenue: $1.5 billion with an adjusted EBITDA exceeding $400 million.
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2025 Q3: Single-quarter revenue of $648 million (up 50% year-over-year).
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Platform Assets: $59.3 billion in assets under management with $576.8 billion in quarterly trading volume.
In November 2025, Kraken completed an $800 million pre-IPO round at a $20 billion valuation. Investors included top-tier market makers like Citadel Securities, Jane Street, and DRW. Kraken has already filed a confidential S-1 with the goal of listing in the first half of 2026.
If successful, it will become the second mainstream crypto exchange to list in the U.S. after Coinbase and the first to complete the full listing process in the "post-Gensler era."
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Consensys: MetaMask’s Parent Company
Consensys owns some of the most valuable products in crypto: MetaMask, which has 30 million monthly active users, and Infura, which powers the majority of Ethereum dApp backends. Founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, the company is working with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs for a mid-2026 IPO.
The prospectus is expected to highlight MetaMask Swaps revenue, which charges a 0.875% fee per trade. In 2025, MetaMask expanded its reach by adding native Bitcoin support. A key point of interest for investors will be how the company balances the interests of IPO shareholders with the potential issuance of a MASK token.
The main uncertainty for Consensys lies in its dual path of developing a MASK token while pursuing an IPO. How will they coordinate these two? Will there be a conflict of interest between token holders and shareholders? This could become a landmark case for crypto corporate governance.
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Ledger: Hardware Transitioning to Software
Ledger has sold over 6 million hardware wallets and secures more than $100 billion in Bitcoin. CEO Pascal Gauthier is pitching Ledger as the "Apple of self-custody." The transformation focuses on Ledger Live, turning one-time hardware sales into recurring subscription revenue.
Wall Street appears to be buying the narrative. Reports indicate Ledger is in talks with Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays for an NYSE IPO at a valuation exceeding $4 billion. Following record revenues in 2025, Ledger’s self-custody solutions have become a major selling point as industry-wide theft reached $17 billion last year.
This ambitious valuation is backed by performance.
In 2025, revenue reached hundreds of millions of dollars, which Gauthier described as a "record year." Following the collapse of FTX, the mantra "Not your keys, not your coins" surged in popularity, driving both institutions and retail users toward self-custody. Last year, crypto theft hit a record $17 billion, which ironically served as a selling point for Ledger.
However, hardware wallets remain difficult for for mainstream users. Ledger’s growth ceiling hinges on whether it can meaningfully lower that barrier to entry.
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Bithumb: The South Korean Giant
Bithumb was once the largest exchange in South Korea before being overtaken by Upbit. Currently, Upbit holds over 80% of the Korean market, while Bithumb maintains between 15% and 20%.
In 2024, Bithumb launched a zero-fee campaign, successfully pulling its market share back to approximately 25%. This was a capital-intensive battle for users, likely intended to build momentum for its IPO. With Samsung Securities acting as the underwriter, the original plan was to list on the KOSDAQ in the second half of 2025, though the timeline has been pushed to 2026.
Bithumb claims this IPO is not for fundraising; the company has over 400 billion KRW (approximately $300 million) in financial assets and is not short on cash. The goal is to "establish market trust" by subjecting internal governance and finances to public audit.
This transparency is needed because Bithumb has faced significant trouble in recent years:
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In 2023, it was raided by the Korean National Tax Service over suspected fraudulent transactions.
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Multiple executives were investigated for alleged listing bribes, leading to the departure of former CEO Lee Sang-jun.
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A six-year lawsuit regarding a 2017 service outage recently ended with a court order to compensate users.
To prepare for the IPO, former Chairman Lee Jung-hoon, who recently acquitted of fraud charges related to an acquisition, has returned to the board. The new CEO is a close associate of his. With 18 million crypto users in Korea and daily trading volumes often exceeding the stock market, Bithumb's IPO is a signal of institutionalization, but investors will remain focused on its historical governance issues.
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CertiK: The Security Leader
At the Davos Forum on January 23, CertiK CEO Ronghui Gu announced the company is moving forward with IPO plans. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in New York, CertiK is the largest security audit firm in the industry, serving over 5,000 clients and auditing code that protects roughly $600 billion in assets.
Its investor list is formidable: Binance was an early and major supporter, followed by SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global, Sequoia, and Goldman Sachs. Its 2022 Series B3 round valued the company at $2 billion.
However, CertiK is also one of the most controversial companies in the space:
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The recent Kraken incident drew significant attention. CertiK discovered a vulnerability that allowed for fake deposits and transferred approximately $300 million during testing. CertiK called it a "white-hat operation," while Kraken labeled it extortion. Although the funds were returned, CertiK's reputation was impacted.
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Previously, CertiK audited Huione Guarantee, a platform allegedly used for money laundering and the sale of hacking tools and personal data. CertiK later apologized, but the incident raised questions about the firm's internal risk controls.
Gu views the IPO as a "natural next step in product and technical expansion." However, once the prospectus is public, these controversies will face intense scrutiny from investors. Rebuilding trust is CertiK's greatest challenge on the road to listing.
Why crypto IPOs are surging in 2026
The cluster of crypto IPOs isn't random. It's driven by two major shifts.
First, the regulatory landscape has transformed. After SEC Chair Gary Gensler's departure, new leadership has taken a friendlier stance toward crypto, dropping lawsuits against Kraken and Consensys. This has created a narrow window for companies to go public.
Second, these companies have exhausted private funding options. After multiple funding rounds, they're juggling large shareholder bases and employees holding illiquid stock options. Meanwhile, Coinbase's five-year track record as a public company has proven that crypto firms can thrive in public markets.
What investors should watch?
Not all IPO candidates are equal:
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Kraken and Ledger have established business models with proven revenue streams.
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Consensys owns MetaMask, a valuable entry point to crypto, but faces tension between shareholder interests and token holder expectations.
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CertiK brings strong brand recognition but also regulatory baggage.
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Bithumb is largely a Korean market play with limited global appeal.
The real test begins after the IPO.
Going public is just the first hurdle. Long-term success requires shedding the "crypto company" label and repositioning as financial infrastructure providers. Coinbase spent five years convincing Wall Street it was more than a trading platform. For this new wave of companies, that journey is just beginning.
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