Kraken, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed its impressive 2024 financial results with revenues hitting $1.5 billion, marking a significant 128% surge from the previous year.
The exchange’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) hit a substantial figure of $330 million in 2024. Further, Kraken saw an enormous trading volume of $665 billion, facilitated by over 2.5 million active accounts on its platform.
The release of these financials comes amidst a period of significant developments and changes in the exchange’s service offerings to clients.
In a surprising move in November, Kraken closed down its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, just a year after its launch. Company representatives stated that this closure would enable the exchange to concentrate on innovative product offerings and services. Data from CoinMarketCap notes a steady decline in NFT sales volumes over 2024, plummeting from a peak of around $3.6 billion in January to less than $1 billion in September 2024.
In December, the FTX bankruptcy estate chose Kraken to manage distributions to the former clients and creditors of the failed exchange. These payments are scheduled for the first two months of 2025 and could potentially drive more trading activity on Kraken as ex-FTX clients liquidate or exchange their funds.
Bitwise, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer, forecasted that Kraken is likely to go public and list on stock exchanges in 2025, aligning with stablecoin issuer Circle, financial services firm Figure, and Chainalysis.
Recently, Kraken resumed staking services for its US customers after a two-year absence, enabling residents in 37 states to stake 17 digital assets on the Kraken Pro platform, including Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Polkadot (DOT). This move followed a $30-million settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February 2023 over allegations of selling unregistered securities via its then unlicensed staking service.
