Jesse Powell, founder and CEO of Kraken, one of the worlds largest exchanges, has said that his exchange is looking to go public in the next 12 to 18 months.
In a recent interview for Bloomberg TV, The Kraken CEO said that his company is “doing all the prep work” in order to become a public company but declined to talk about any valuation as yet.
“Were on a mission to bring crypto to the world, and our valuation hopefully will be a reflection of our success in achieving that mission,”
Back in late February of this year it was also reported by Bloomberg that Kraken was hoping to raise $10 billion, which would double its valuation. Some had said that the funding could exceed $20 billion, also according to Bloomberg.
Krakens rival Coinbase has already gone public earlier this year via a direct listing, pathing the way for the likes of Kraken, and other larger exchanges, to follow suit.
Kraken is currently the 4th largest exchange by trading volume globally, and has 6 million customers in nearly 190 countries. CEO Powell said that his company had seen more sign-ups this year than in any other, and that the first two months of this year exceeded the total sign-ups for 2020.
Powell remains full of optimism for the crypto market, in spite of the downturn since May. He feels that new traders who were using too much leverage, and who were following the momentum, were to blame for making the sell-off even worse.
His optimism is based on the fact that there is ongoing accumulation. MicroStrategy was seen as one such buyer, which has recently issued bonds in order to fund further Bitcoin purchases.
“Guys that have been holding for a long time continue to accumulate,”
He believes that Bitcoin will hit new highs this year and refers, perhaps with tongue in cheek, to his future purchases:
“I‘ve said one Bitcoin, one Lambo by the end of the 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.”
