TLDR

• Kraken confirmed that it confidentially filed for an initial public offering, according to co-CEO Arjun Sethi.
• The company secured a $13.3 billion valuation in April, down from its $20 billion peak in late 2025.
• Arjun Sethi said Kraken plans to offer institutional-grade trading tools to retail users.
• Kraken obtained a master account with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for direct dollar settlement access.
• Deutsche Börse agreed to invest $200 million for a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Payward Inc.
• Kraken disclosed insider-related security incidents that affected about 2,000 accounts without compromising client funds.

Kraken confirmed it confidentially filed for an initial public offering, according to co-CEO Arjun Sethi. He disclosed the move on Tuesday at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington, D.C. The filing follows a prior pause in listing plans as its valuation fell to $13.3 billion.

Kraken Advances IPO Plan as Valuation Adjusts

Kraken confirmed it submitted a confidential IPO filing, and Arjun Sethi announced the update during a public event. He spoke at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, D.C., and addressed earlier reports. The company had paused earlier listing plans after crypto markets weakened and trading volumes dropped.

The San Francisco-based exchange secured a $13.3 billion valuation in an April funding round. That figure marked a decline from its $20 billion peak recorded in late 2025. The round included backing from Citadel Securities and reflected changing investor sentiment.

Sethi said Kraken wants to expand institutional-grade trading tools to retail clients. He compared the company’s goals to services offered by Jane Street and JPMorgan Chase. He stated, “We aim to bring institutional-grade tools to retail users,” while outlining product ambitions.

Kraken recently obtained a master account with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The account grants direct access to U.S. payment systems, including Fedwire. This access allows dollar settlements without intermediary banks, though it excludes interest on reserves and lending facilities.

Deutsche Börse Investment and Insider Security Incidents

Deutsche Börse disclosed a $200 million investment in Kraken through a secondary share purchase. The transaction grants a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Payward Inc, pending regulatory approval. The companies expect the deal to close in Q2 2026.

The investment expands a partnership announced in December 2025 between Kraken and Deutsche Börse. The collaboration targets regulated crypto trading, derivatives, tokenized assets, and institutional liquidity services. Both firms said the agreement seeks to connect traditional financial infrastructure with digital asset markets.

Kraken also reported two insider-related security incidents involving support staff. The employees accessed limited client data through internal systems without authorization. About 2,000 accounts, representing 0.02%, were affected, and no client funds or trading systems were compromised.

A criminal group later attempted extortion, claiming it possessed internal videos linked to the incidents. Kraken refused to pay and revoked access for the responsible individuals. The company notified affected users and cooperated with law enforcement while strengthening internal controls.

Galaxy Digital reported a separate cybersecurity incident during the same week. The firm disclosed unauthorized access to a development environment. It stated that no client data or funds were impacted by that breach.

CoW Swap, a decentralized trading interface, said Tuesday it temporarily halted its services after detecting a domain name system (DNS) hijacking incident affecting its website, underscoring ongoing security risks at the front-end layer of DeFi platforms.

In a post on X, the team said the attack occurred at 14:54 UTC and warned users to avoid interacting with its interface until further notice. While the protocol’s underlying infrastructure, including its backend and APIs, was not directly compromised, both were paused “as a precaution” as the team worked to resolve the issue.

DNS hijacking allows attackers to redirect users from a legitimate domain to a malicious lookalike site, often with the goal of draining crypto wallets or harvesting private data. The attack vector has become a persistent weak point in decentralized finance, where users typically rely on web-based interfaces to access otherwise secure smart contracts.

CoW Swap operates as a decentralized exchange aggregator, sourcing liquidity across venues and using a mechanism known as “Coincidence of Wants” to match trades directly between users or batch them for more efficient execution. Orders are handled by competing “solvers” that optimize trade outcomes, a design intended to reduce slippage and limit exposure to maximal extractable value (MEV).

MEV is a practice on the blockchain where bots reorder transactions to extract profit at users’ expense, making mitigation key to ensuring fair pricing and protecting traders.

The platform is governed by CoW DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization spun out of the Gnosis ecosystem. The project has positioned itself as a user-protective alternative in DeFi trading, emphasizing execution quality and fairer trading outcomes.

“We are now actively working to resolve the situation. Please continue to refrain from using swap dot cow dot fi until we confirm that it is safe to use,” the team wrote on X.

Read more: DEX Aggregator CoW Swap Targets 33% Trading Boost With Collaboration Feature, More Rewards

TLDR

• Tim Draper expects the Bitcoin price to reach $250,000 within the next 18 months.
• He links his forecast to growing global adoption and weakening fiat currencies.
• Draper first attempted to acquire Bitcoin when it traded at $4 through a mining partnership.
• He later lost his Bitcoin holdings during the collapse of Mt. Gox exchange.
• In 2014, he purchased Bitcoin at $632 per coin during a US Marshals auction.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper has renewed his projection that Bitcoin will reach $250,000 within 18 months. He shared the forecast in a recent public statement and linked it to rising adoption trends. He also cited the weakening of fiat currencies as a driver of future demand.

Bitcoin Price Outlook and Long-Term Target

Draper stated that he expects the Bitcoin price to climb to $250,000 within 18 months. He said growing usage will fuel the projected rise. He added that weakening fiat currencies will also boost demand.

He said, “I have reason to believe that Bitcoin will reach $250k in 18 months.” He linked his view to broader use cases across global markets. He maintained that expanding adoption will sustain the rally.

Draper acknowledged that some past forecasts did not meet timelines. However, he said he continues to stand by his current target. He stressed that he bases his outlook on adoption data and currency trends.

He previously predicted that Bitcoin would reach $10,000 within three years. He made that call shortly after buying confiscated coins in 2014. The asset later met that target within the projected period.

Early Bitcoin Mining and Mt. Gox Losses

Draper said he first attempted to acquire Bitcoin when it traded at $4. He partnered with Peter Viscenne to mine the cryptocurrency. They ordered mining chips from hardware maker Butterfly Labs.

However, Draper alleged that Butterfly Labs used the chips to mine for itself. He said the company delayed shipping the hardware. By the time they received the equipment, Bitcoin traded above $30.

Draper later lost his holdings during the collapse of Mt. Gox. The exchange served as the leading Bitcoin trading platform at that time. Despite the failure, the Bitcoin price remained resilient.

He said, “It turned out that Bitcoin was being used for remitting money.” He added that people used it to pay unbanked employees and create new economies. He said these use cases supported price stability.

In 2014, Draper purchased Bitcoin through a US Marshals auction. Authorities had seized the coins from the Silk Road marketplace. He paid $632 per coin during that auction process.

Shortly after the purchase, Draper predicted a $10,000 Bitcoin price within three years. A television host reacted with confusion during the interview. The asset later reached that level within the timeframe.

Draper admitted that later price targets were less accurate. However, he reiterated confidence in his current forecast. He again pointed to adoption growth and fiat currency erosion as key factors.

Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten is adding XRP to its Rakuten Pay app, allowing its 44 million users to use Ripple’s cryptocurrency as a payment method with more than 5 million merchant locations across the country.

In an announcement via X on Tuesday, Tatsuya Kohrogi, Ripple’s senior ecosystem growth manager, said Rakuten is also enabling its users to spot trade XRP via the app. He said they will also be able to purchase XRP with Rakuten points and hold it in their Rakuten Wallet.

The move ties XRP into one of Japan’s largest loyalty systems, where more than 3 trillion points—worth roughly $23 billion—are in circulation and can now be converted into XRP, Kohrogi said.

“Starting April 15, Rakuten Wallet will launch XRP as both a listed asset and a payment method, meaning users can buy XRP directly with Rakuten Points and charge their Rakuten Cash with XRP to spend it at over 5 million merchant locations across Japan,” Kohrogi said, calling the development “one of the most significant XRP milestones.”

The Ripple executive also said Rakuten is one of Japan’s most trusted consumer brands. “The fact that XRP is now embedded into its loyalty and payments infrastructure is a powerful signal of where digital asset adoption is heading,” he added.

Rakuten began allowing users to spend bitcoin, ether and bitcoin cash in 2023. In 2021, the Japanese e-commerce giant announced the launch of its own Rakuten Coin, a token it said would be used as part of its points-based loyalty rewards system.