Deutsche Börse (DB1), the owner of Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Xetra, took a $200 million stake in crypto exchange Kraken’s parent Payward Inc., equivalent to a 1.5% stake in the company.
The transaction, which values the company at $13.3 billion, is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approval, Deutsche Börse said in a Tuesday email.
Deutsche Börse teamed up with Kraken last December to bridge traditional and digital markets and help expedite institutional cryptocurrency adoption in Europe.
“Spanning trading, custody, settlement, collateral management, and tokenized assets, the partnership will unlock a new range of enhanced products and services that deliver frictionless access to both ecosystems…for institutional clients,” Deutsche Börse said in the email.
Kraken, which said in November that it planned to go public, is said to have put the process on hold due to unfavorable market conditions that then took hold, CoinDesk reported last month. In November, it also announced an $800 million fund raise, including $200 million from Citadel Securites.
An initial public offering (IPO) is still under consideration, but not until conditions improve.