Clash of the crypto exchanges: Kraken vs. Coinbase

While cryptocurrency is often considered an alternative investment,⁸ some companies that provide digital infrastructure for the crypto world have become more mainstream. For example, crypto exchange Coinbase, which went public in 2021 in the largest direct listing in the U.S. at that time,⁹ joined the S&P 500 in May 2025, making it the first crypto company to join this benchmark index.¹⁰

However, Coinbase isn't the only crypto company becoming more of a household name. Competing exchanges such as Kraken are also growing in popularity, including among institutional investors.¹¹ Meanwhile, Kraken is reportedly planning on an IPO in early 2026,¹² while also expanding more into mainstream finance, such as by offering traditional stock and ETF trading in certain areas.¹³

For now, Coinbase remains the much larger company by market cap, and its stock has enjoyed strong gains over the past year, including getting a bump around the time of its inclusion in the S&P 500.¹⁴ However, Kraken has been rapidly catching up, with its valuation approximately quadrupling over the past year.¹⁵

Bringing crypto to the masses

In many ways, Coinbase and Kraken have been moving along the same path. For one, they both started in San Francisco around the same time — Kraken in 2011¹⁶ and Coinbase in 2012.¹⁷ Both companies also operate centralized exchanges that arguably have helped bring crypto trading more into the mainstream, though they're only part of a much larger system of financial institutions that have made crypto more accessible.¹⁸

However, Coinbase and Kraken differ in several meaningful ways. Coinbase has a market cap about twice as high as Kraken's valuation,¹⁹²⁰ along with higher trading volume.²¹ Yet Kraken is the largest crypto exchange in terms of euro trading volume,²² and it supports more markets and coins than Coinbase.²³

The companies also diverge in some areas outside of their core exchange offerings. For example, Coinbase started its custody business in 2018²⁴ and has attracted large asset managers to use Coinbase as its crypto custodian, such as with nine out of the 12 currently traded spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. choosing Coinbase, while none of these are custodied by Kraken.²⁵ Kraken is a newer entrant in this area, having started its custody business in 2024.²⁶

Meanwhile, Kraken has had a longer runway to build up its reputation for margin trading, having introduced the offering in 2014²⁷ vs. 2020 for Coinbase.²⁸ Another difference is fees, and while much depends on the type of customer and transaction details, Coinbase has higher maximum taker fees of 0.60%²⁹ vs. 0.40% for Kraken.³⁰

As mentioned, Kraken has also expanded into some non-crypto areas, such as by starting to offer stock and ETF trading in some parts of the U.S., as of April 2025.³¹

Still, both Coinbase and Kraken face significant competition from several other crypto exchanges/crypto-related startups. For example, Blockchain.com provides similar crypto investing services, though arguably with a bigger focus on its self-custody wallet offering compared with Coinbase and Kraken. Uphold is another crypto investing platform that stands out by also offering precious metals investing. And Abra focuses more on the institutional/high-net-worth investor market, such as by providing crypto-related lending and advisory services.

Comparing market performance

Coinbase was the first publicly traded crypto company³² when it conducted a direct listing in 2021.³³ After a volatile first day of trading, the stock closed at $328.28, which gave the company an $85.8 billion market cap³⁴ — up from the $250 reference price and $65.3 billion valuation heading into the direct listing.³⁵ That marked a significant jump from Coinbase's last primary funding round valuation of over $8 billion in 2018.³⁶

Since then, however, Coinbase's stock has not been performing as well. In 2022, the stock plummeted by 86%, amidst a difficult year for crypto overall, including with the infamous FTX bankruptcy.³⁷ However, the stock staged a comeback in 2023³⁸ and enjoyed some boosts, such as with the surge in crypto prices in late 2024, following the election of Donald Trump.³⁹

Still, the stock has been relatively volatile, such as reaching a recent high of $349.75 in December 2024 before falling by over 50% by early April 2025,⁴⁰ around the time that markets were faltering following tariff announcements.⁴¹ However, the stock rallied following some tariff pauses and Coinbase's inclusion in the S&P 500, and the stock hit a new high of $444.65 in July. While it has dipped a bit since then, the stock is still up about 17% over the past year, as of mid-November 2025, with a market cap of over $85 billion.⁴²

In comparison, Kraken, as a private company, has not had the same volatility this year, but its valuation has experienced some of the ups and downs that Coinbase faced in previous years. For example, Kraken's valuation jumped dramatically from $67.4 million with its Series A in 2016 to $5.5 billion with its Series B in 2020. Yet by late 2023, Kraken's Forge Price™ implied that its valuation fell all the way to around $1.4 billion.⁴³ Forge Price is a derived data point that reflects the up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies, and is calculated based on a proprietary model incorporating pricing inputs from primary funding round information and secondary market transactions on Forge.

Since then, however, Kraken has enjoyed a climb back above its previous highs, with a September 2025 $500 million funding round that brought its valuation to $15 billion. Now, its Forge Price of $41.85 implies a slight dip in valuation to around $12.86 billion, but that's still up from $3.43 billion a year ago.⁴⁴

In a direct comparison, dating back to the beginning of 2023 when Coinbase was recovering from its recent lows, Coinbase has gained nearly 750% while Kraken has gained about 267%. However, that mainly reflects Kraken's 275% gain over the past year, whereas Coinbase is only up around 17%.^45,46

Forge + Yahoo Finance Data: A new lens on public vs. private stocks

Thanks to the recently announced partnership between Forge and Yahoo Finance, investors can now closely monitor real-time private company prices like Kraken's Forge Price compared to crypto competitors in the public market like Coinbase. These side-by-side comparisons could help investors spotlight changes that might occur as both companies navigate potential changes to regulation,⁴⁷ investor demand for crypto, and overall economic shifts that might occur.

What's next for Kraken vs. Coinbase?

The future of Kraken and Coinbase could go in many different directions, depending on what investor demand for crypto looks like in the years to come, both from a retail and institutional standpoint.

Other factors include how these companies might evolve into different areas, such as with Kraken starting to offer stock and ETF trading. Both companies have also made significant acquisitions recently, such as with Coinbase announcing an approximately $2.9 billion acquisition of crypto options exchange Deribit in May 2025.⁴⁸ In March 2025, Kraken also announced a $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader, a U.S. retail futures trading platform for both crypto and traditional futures.⁴⁹

Kraken also has potential IPO plans for 2026,⁵⁰ but it remains to be seen whether that will come to fruition.

For now, as it remains private, interested investors can learn more about how to invest in Kraken pre-IPO. Those looking to buy shares of Kraken, or other crypto startups, should also read Forge’s buyer’s guide to investing in private market shares.

Finally, if you’re ready to start trading, you can create an account today to buy and sell shares.