KRAKacquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by a Kraken affiliate, upsized its January IPO from a $250 million target to $345 million, selling 34.5 million units at $10 each on the Nasdaq Global Market.
The firm is now hunting acquisition targets in the cryptocurrency infrastructure space valued at up to $10 billion, director Ravi Tanuku told Decrypt.
The search runs parallel to Kraken's own confidential IPO filing, raising questions about whether the exchange is building a public market strategy through two simultaneous vehicles.
The blank-check company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands and backed by Kraken alongside venture firms Tribe Capital and Natural Capital, debuted under the ticker "KRAQU" on Jan. 28.
Its mandate is to merge with one or more operating businesses within 24 months or return capital to shareholders.
What KRAKacquisition Is Looking For
Tanuku told Decrypt that the $10 billion ceiling is an approximation and that targets could realistically be valued closer to $2 billion.
The firm is targeting small- and mid-cap companies operating in cryptocurrency payments, stablecoins, DeFi, and tokenization - sectors where Wall Street interest surged throughout 2025.
No specific target has been identified, and the company has yet to enter substantive merger discussions, according to its SEC filing.
The SPAC structure gives KRAKacquisition two years to complete a deal before it must return IPO proceeds to investors. Units include one Class A ordinary share and a quarter-warrant exercisable at $11.50, meaning warrant holders only profit meaningfully after a merger announcement clears that price threshold.
The Kraken Context
The acquisition vehicle's launch coincides with Kraken's own IPO ambitions. The exchange confidentially filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the SEC in November 2025 at a $20 billion valuation, following a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities.
Kraken parent Payward reported $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue for 2025, with 53% coming from services outside spot trading, including custody, staking, and subscriptions.
Kraken has been an active acquirer. It purchased futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in 2025 and later closed a deal for tokenized asset issuer Backed Finance.
Tanuku described KRAKacquisition as a strategic tool that could align smaller firms economically with Kraken through a meaningful stake - effectively extending the exchange's reach into sectors it hasn't built internally.
Santander is listed as the sole book-runner on the SPAC's offering. Sahil Gupta, who leads strategic initiatives at Kraken, serves as KRAKacquisition's CFO, reinforcing the operational overlap between the exchange and its shell company.
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