Ledger Joins Kraken in Pausing US IPO, Stalling Crypto’s 2026 Public Listing Wave

• Ledger has not filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC and may pursue private fundraising instead of a US listing.
• Kraken’s valuation fell to $13.3 billion in April 2026, down from $20 billion in 2025, signaling public market skepticism of crypto operators.
• BitGo, the only US-listed crypto firm this year, trades 30% below its January $18 IPO price, deterring peers from testing public appetite.

• $4B+ Ledger’s valuation target, now shelved indefinitely due to market conditions
• 30% BitGo’s stock decline from its January IPO price, creating cautionary example for sector
• $100B Total client crypto assets secured by Ledger, demonstrating operational scale despite listing pause

Ledger, the Paris-based hardware wallet manufacturer founded in 2014, has suspended plans for a US initial public offering, eliminating what was positioned as one of 2026’s most significant cryptocurrency sector listings.

The company has not filed a confidential S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the mandatory first filing step toward a public offering, and is instead exploring private capital raises to fund growth.

Sources with knowledge of the process confirmed the pause after Ledger had engaged Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays to lead a New York listing valued above $4 billion earlier this year.

Kraken’s March Exit Set Precedent for Institutional Crypto Retreat

Ledger’s move follows a similar pullback by Kraken, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange that had confidentially filed for a US listing in November 2025 but shelved the effort in March 2026.

Kraken’s retreat carried a measurable cost: the exchange’s private valuation compressed to $13.3 billion in April, a 33.5% decline from its $20 billion peak in 2025, demonstrating that public market skepticism toward crypto operators has infected even late-stage private funding rounds.

The two pauses within a single quarter have collapsed what was expected to become crypto’s most active IPO year since the sector’s emergence as an institutional asset class. Both companies cited unfavorable market conditions as the rationale, a euphemism encompassing regulatory uncertainty, token price volatility, and flagging investor conviction in public crypto securities.

The loss of Ledger and Kraken from the 2026 listing calendar leaves material gaps: Ledger alone represents a multibillion-dollar exit opportunity that institutional investors and early-stage venture firms had been modeling into their return projections.

For institutional holders in both firms, venture capital funds, family offices, and employees holding equity stakes, the pause converts what was a concrete near-term liquidity event into an indefinite secondary market dependency.

BitGo’s 30% Decline Signals Public Markets Discount Crypto Operators Sharply

BitGo Holdings, which completed a US listing in January 2026 at $18 per share, now trades near $12, representing a 33% decline from its offer price within months of going public.

BitGo is the only crypto-native firm to achieve a US listing in 2026, making its performance the primary institutional benchmark for assessing whether public markets will price crypto operators fairly or apply a structural discount to the sector.

The stock’s weakness provides material disincentive for other firms to test investor appetite.

Ledger’s decision-makers and board likely modeled BitGo’s trajectory as a realistic downside case: a competent, revenue-generating crypto business with institutional client relationships failing to maintain its IPO valuation once subjected to public market mechanics, including short-seller scrutiny, analyst coverage, and passive fund selling.

That outcome creates a rational economic case for delay, particularly for companies like Ledger that have alternative paths to capital through secondary share sales and strategic investor rounds.

The comparison extends to Kraken’s compressed valuation. A $20 billion private valuation in 2025 would have positioned the exchange for a listing valuation in the mid-$20 billions range, assuming typical IPO premiums.

The April 2026 markdown to $13.3 billion implies that even private market participants, investors with longer time horizons and lower liquidity requirements than public equity holders, have repriced crypto exchange equity downward. This compression suggests BitGo’s public performance reflects genuine institutional skepticism rather than a temporary market dislocation.

Ledger’s March Secondary Sale and Operational Expansion Continue Independently

Despite pausing its IPO, Ledger has maintained momentum in core operations and alternative fundraising. The company executed a $50 million secondary share sale in March 2026, allowing investors and employees to achieve partial liquidity without a full public offering.

Secondary sales, while substantial, rarely provide the capital depth of public markets and impose significant transaction costs on smaller holders seeking to convert their stakes.

Ledger has simultaneously expanded its operational footprint and product range. The firm recently hired a chief financial officer from Circle, the stablecoin issuer, signaling intent to build institutional-grade infrastructure and possibly expand into on-chain finance.

The company is also developing enterprise custody products targeted at banking clients, a business line with comparatively stable revenue characteristics that could appeal to public equity investors if presented as a diversified revenue model rather than a pure crypto play.

These operational moves suggest Ledger views the IPO pause as tactical delay rather than permanent abandonment of public markets.

The firm’s stated asset base, $100 billion in client cryptocurrency holdings under custody, positions it as a systemically important infrastructure provider, a narrative that could eventually support a public listing if token price stability and regulatory clarity improve.

However, the ability to build that narrative depends on market conditions shifting materially from current levels, a threshold that neither Ledger nor its institutional investors can control unilaterally.

Secondary Market Becomes Default Liquidity Path for Crypto Companies in 2026

Ledger’s March secondary sale and the broader retreat from public listings suggest that crypto companies are defaulting to private capital markets as their primary liquidity mechanism through 2026 and possibly into 2027.

Secondary sales, while smaller in absolute capital raised, avoid the regulatory scrutiny, investor relations burden, and long-term public reporting obligations that accompany IPO processes. For founders and early investors seeking exits, secondary sales provide immediate capital at negotiated prices without the binary outcome risk of a public float.

This shift carries implications for venture capital’s return cycles and for institutional investors’ portfolio construction. If major crypto companies remain private through 2026 and into 2027, the venture capital firms backing them face extended holding periods and compressed liquidity timelines relative to their fund lifecycles.

Institutional investors planning to build publicly traded crypto exposure through direct share purchases in IPOs will instead need to acquire positions in late-stage private rounds or through the secondary market, both of which limit position sizing and create valuation discovery challenges.

The IPO calendar could reopen by the second half of 2026, according to industry participants, if three conditions shift simultaneously: token prices appreciate significantly from current levels, on-chain trading volumes expand, and the next crypto-adjacent public listing, whether a major exchange, infrastructure provider, or adjacent fintech firm, demonstrates to investors that the sector can sustain public equity valuations.

None of those conditions has materialized as of late May 2026, and no major crypto company has formally committed to a public offering under current market conditions.

The critical watch point is whether any crypto company announces a formal IPO filing in the second half of 2026, and whether BitGo’s stock price stabilizes or recovers closer to its offer price, which would provide the demonstration effect needed to unfreeze the broader sector’s path to public markets. Without either event, Ledger and other would-be issuers will likely extend their private fundraising cycles through 2027,

Original reporting: beincrypto.com