KRAKacquisition Corp., a SPAC backed by an affiliate of crypto exchange Kraken, is on the hunt for a takeover target that could fetch as much as $10 billion — though the firm says the eventual deal could fall nearer to $2 billion, depending on the opportunity.
Ravi Tanuku, a director at KRAKacquisition, told Decrypt that the blank-check company, formed in January, completed a $345 million public offering that same month and now has a two-year window to identify and combine with a private business via the typical SPAC reverse‑merger route. “The market is clearly paying up for those and starting to realize there’s big changes afoot,” Tanuku said, pointing to growing Wall Street appetite for companies tied to stablecoins and tokenization.
While KRAKacquisition hasn’t narrowed its search to a specific firm or niche, Tanuku said the SPAC’s remit spans crypto-related businesses as well as adjacent areas such as stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization and payments. The wide valuation range — from roughly $2 billion to as much as $10 billion — reflects the company’s flexibility to pursue both small- and mid-cap firms that might otherwise struggle to access public markets.
The SPAC also functions as a strategic investment vehicle for Kraken itself. Tanuku noted that Kraken could align an acquired company with the exchange economically by taking a meaningful stake, and that the exchange’s backing is demonstrated through its willingness to lend its brand to KRAKacquisition.
KRAKacquisition’s registration statement even signals macroeconomic thinking: it cites inflation and a weakening U.S. dollar’s purchasing power as drivers pushing investors toward “hard assets as hedges,” such as Bitcoin.
The SPAC search is unfolding as Kraken contemplates its own IPO. In November the exchange said it had confidentially filed a registration statement with the SEC after closing an $800 million fundraising round that valued the company at about $20 billion.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
