Deutsche Börse has invested $200 million in Kraken, acquiring a 1.5% stake in the cryptocurrency exchange's parent company, Payward, at a valuation of $13.3 billion. This investment comes as Kraken's co-CEO, Arjun Sethi, confirmed at the World Economic Forum in Washington that the company has secretly filed for an initial public offering (IPO). The current valuation marks a 33% decrease from Kraken's $20 billion valuation during its $800 million funding round in November 2025. The investment by Germany's largest exchange operator deepens its partnership with Kraken, focusing on integrating Kraken's xStocks tokenized equities platform into Deutsche Börse's digital assets infrastructure. Kraken has been expanding its offerings, including launching CME futures trading and surpassing $10 billion in cumulative trading volume for its xStocks product. The regulatory environment has also improved for Kraken, with the SEC dropping its lawsuit against the exchange in March 2025.