News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Anduril Partners With Kraken Technology Group On Small USVs | Ocean News & Technology
Recent conflicts have rewritten the rules of naval warfare. Affordable, scalable unmanned systems now decide outcomes -- and the US Navy needs small USVs that carry flexible payloads exceeding 1,000 lbs, sustain extended operations, and roll off production lines fast. Current domestic offerings fall short. As Navy Secretary John Phelan told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "We will not win the wars of the future with the platforms of the past. Success in modern warfare will require the rapid, scalable production and integration of air, surface, and subsurface unmanned systems." Kraken Technology Group builds the answer. Anduril is partnering with Kraken to bring Kraken's proven family of small, high-performance, mass-producible USVs to the US Navy. Kraken's USVs offer uniquely high performance. With a heritage rooted in competitive offshore racing, Kraken's USVs have set the standard for speed and endurance at sea. They have already proven that performance under the UK's Project Beehive program, where it emerged as the small USV leader for European and partner nation customers. Anduril and Kraken are joining forces to deliver a family of small unmanned surface vehicles to the US Navy. Anduril will build the K5 KRAKEN and K7 SABRE at US facilities, and sustain and support the fleet. Anduril will integrate payloads and Lattice autonomy software on US soil, configuring each vessel for the full range of Navy missions. To meet allied demand, Kraken will continue a parallel production line, designing a distinct hull variant for allied operational requirements. Dominance at sea requires scale. Kraken's platform expertise plus Anduril's autonomy and domestic manufacturing deliver it.
Kraken Pushes for Crypto Tax Reforms After Issuing 56M Forms in 2025
Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, has called for significant tax policy reforms after issuing an eye-popping 56 million tax forms for the 2025 tax year. In a blog post on April 22, the company advocated for a de minimis exemption on small crypto transactions and changes to the treatment of staking income, arguing these moves would reduce bureaucratic overload and ease compliance burdens for millions of taxpayers. The exchange revealed that nearly 18.5 million of the tax forms it issued were tied to transactions valued at less than $1, and 75% of all forms reported amounts under $50. Kraken characterized the current reporting requirements as "millions of unnecessary forms" generated by trivial transactions. Under current IRS rules, every taxable event -- no matter how small -- must be reported, creating administrative headaches for both exchanges and users. Kraken's centerpiece recommendation is a de minimis exemption that would exclude small, routine crypto transactions from capital gains reporting. Such exemptions are not unprecedented; for example, foreign currency transactions under $200 are already exempt from similar reporting requirements under U.S. tax law. The exchange also proposed ending the taxation of so-called "phantom income" from staking rewards, which requires taxpayers to report and pay taxes on cryptocurrency rewards they have not yet sold or converted. "This is not about helping crypto companies," Kraken emphasized in its statement. "It's about simplifying life for 55 million Americans who are using a tax system designed before digital assets existed." Staking rewards have been a regulatory gray area in U.S. tax policy. According to IRS guidelines, staking income is taxable at the time a user gains "dominion and control" over the rewards, meaning when they are free to use or transfer the assets. Taxpayers are required to report the fair market value of the rewards as income, and any future sale or transfer triggers capital gains taxes. This double taxation framework has been criticized for being overly burdensome and out of sync with the nature of staking. The IRS clarified its stance on staking income in Revenue Ruling 2023-14, confirming that rewards are taxable as ordinary income upon receipt. Kraken's push for reform could resonate with taxpayers frustrated by the complexities and financial implications of these rules, especially as staking becomes more popular. While some lawmakers have floated the idea of a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions, recent legislative drafts have been narrow in scope. The most recent proposal in Congress, for example, suggests exempting only stablecoin transactions under $200 from IRS reporting requirements -- leaving Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies out of the equation entirely. Tax compliance costs are also a growing concern. A March 2026 report from the Tax Foundation estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $146 billion annually on tax preparation, including time and out-of-pocket expenses. Meanwhile, the IRS's decision to end its free Direct File program in late 2025 has only added to the financial strain. Beyond tax reform, Kraken's leadership has signaled that the company is still considering an initial public offering (IPO). After filing confidentially with the SEC in November 2025, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi recently indicated that the exchange could go public soon, despite challenging market conditions. The push for tax reform, combined with an IPO on the horizon, underscores Kraken's broader strategy to position itself as a leader in both crypto innovation and regulatory dialogue. As U.S. lawmakers and regulators continue to grapple with the complexities of digital assets, Kraken's proposals could influence how the industry and its users are taxed in the years to come. For now, all eyes will be on Congress to see whether these reforms gain traction -- and whether the crypto industry can finally see some relief from its onerous tax obligations.
Kraken expands into futures, tokenized stocks, and payments
The company's next challenge is turning a string of acquisitions into a platform that feels unified to users. Kraken has been around long enough to see nearly every version of the crypto market up close. Founded in 2011, it lived through Bitcoin's early volatility, the first big exchange era, the ICO boom, the long bear markets, the rise of institutional crypto, and the latest push into tokenized and multi-asset trading. Across those cycles, Kraken kept adding products, expanding its reach, and finding new ways to stay relevant as the industry changed around it. In March 2025, Kraken agreed to buy NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. In April 2025, it launched trading in more than 11,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs for select U.S. clients. In June 2025, it rolled out xStocks for eligible non-U.S. clients, starting with 60 tokenized U.S. equities, and launched Krak, a payments app supporting transfers across more than 160 countries and 300-plus assets. The company kept building through the second half of 2025 with deals for Capitalise.ai, Breakout, Small Exchange, and Backed, then added Magna in February 2026 and Bitnomial soon after. By early 2026, Kraken was pushing further into tokenized equities as xStocks expanded from 60 at launch to 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs. Let's take a closer look at how Kraken has been building through this latest phase of the market. NinjaTrader and regulated finance The NinjaTrader deal in March 2025 gave Kraken a serious foothold in U.S. regulated futures. Kraken valued the transaction at $1.5 billion and described NinjaTrader as the leading U.S. retail futures platform. A few months later, Kraken used that foothold to launch U.S. regulated crypto futures and said it planned to add commodity, fixed income, FX, and equity futures later in 2025. This gave Kraken a direct route into one of the main markets active traders use for hedging and directional bets. Small Exchange gave Kraken a U.S. venue Kraken pushed further in October 2025 when it bought Small Exchange from IG Group for $100 million. Importantly, Small Exchange came with a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market license. Kraken said the purchase would help it launch a fully U.S.-native derivatives suite. Reuters reported the same deal as a move to strengthen Kraken's American derivatives business for retail and institutional clients. This put Kraken closer to the center of the U.S. futures market. Backed and tokenized equities Kraken's tokenized equity push became far more serious in 2025. Reuters reported on May 22, 2025, that Kraken planned to offer tokenized versions of more than 50 U.S. stocks and ETFs, including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia, to non-U.S. clients. Kraken formally launched tokenized U.S. equities on June 30, 2025 with 60 assets on the platform. On December 2, 2025, it announced the acquisition of Backed, the company behind xStocks, saying the deal would bring issuance, trading, and settlement closer together. By March 18, 2026, Kraken said xStocks had grown to 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs and had surpassed $25 billion in total transaction volume since launch. That growth soon fed into a partnership with Nasdaq, announced through Kraken parent Payward, focused on developing an equities transformation gateway for tokenized equities and helping connect regulated market structure with on-chain distribution. Magna took Kraken into token operations In February 2026, Payward, the platform behind Kraken, acquired Magna. Kraken described Magna as a token management platform used for vesting, claims, distributions, and related workflows. Magna will keep operating as a standalone product, though Kraken also said it will be deeply integrated. This gives Kraken a place in the day-to-day work of token teams, not just the trading venue where assets change hands after launch. Capitalise.ai and Breakout Kraken also used acquisitions to widen the kinds of traders it can serve. In August 2025, it bought Capitalise.ai, a no-code automation platform that turns plain-language prompts into trading strategies and backtests. In September 2025, it acquired Breakout, a prop trading platform that offers up to $200,000 in trading capital, with users keeping up to 90% of profits according to Kraken's materials. These additions fit a platform trying to keep more of the trader workflow inside one account, from idea generation to automation to funded execution. Krak linked payments Krak shows how Kraken wants to connect markets with everyday money movement. Reuters reported on June 26, 2025 that the app launched in more than 100 countries for crypto and fiat transfers. Kraken's own product pages later put the figure at more than 160 countries and said users could transact across 300-plus assets. The company also said physical and virtual cards were planned. This gives Kraken a consumer payments product sitting next to trading, tokenized equities, and derivatives rather than outside them. Bitnomial adds another U.S. derivatives layer In April 2026, Kraken parent Payward announced the acquisition of Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse. The deal adds another regulated U.S. futures asset to Kraken's portfolio and expands its ability to serve traders who want futures access inside American market structure. A one-platform financial business Let's go through the list once more. * NinjaTrader opened the door to U.S. regulated futures. * Small Exchange added a licensed venue. * Backed brought xStocks in-house. * Magna added token administration tools. * Capitalise.ai and Breakout served more active traders. * Krak brought payments into the same product family. * Bitnomial added another U.S. regulated derivatives venue and clearing capability. Kraken also launched U.S.-listed stock and ETF trading in April 2025, giving select U.S. users access to more than 11,000 equities on the same platform. The legal side is worth noting too. In Europe, Kraken now operates through MiCA-regulated entities and also holds a MiFID II license. Those approvals give the company stronger footing across the EEA as it expands trading, payments, tokenized equities, and related services. There is also a major U.S. regulatory angle. Kraken said in March 2026 it became the first digital asset firm with a Federal Reserve master account. Direct access to the U.S. payments system adds another serious piece to its financial-services buildout. Acquisitions can assemble the parts quickly, but users and institutions will judge the result by whether those parts work well together. Kraken now has trading, payments, token operations, tokenized equities, and multiple regulated derivatives assets. The next phase is proving that this collection functions like one platform.
Kraken API Unlocked -- the market data feeds systematic traders use on Kraken
Systematic traders typically use 2-3 feeds based on strategy type, over-subscribing adds overhead without improving signal quality. Knowing which API endpoints exist doesn't tell you which feeds to actually use. Execution algorithms commonly use L2 book depth 10 rather than 1,000. Momentum strategies typically don't need an order book at all. And if you're backtesting on 6 months of data, you're missing how your strategy performs across market cycles. Here's what systematic traders subscribe to for execution algorithms, backtesting, and carry strategies, along with what you gain from combining feeds instead of running them in isolation. Ticker data provides best bid, best ask, and last price. But if you're executing size, ticker alone doesn't tell you how much liquidity sits behind those prices. Order book (L2) shows aggregated depth across multiple price levels. This matters when you're sizing orders to avoid slippage. If you're selling 5 BTC and the best bid only has 0.08 BTC of depth, you'll move through multiple levels. L2 shows you this before you send the order. L3 provides a full order-by-order view of all resting orders in the book, including order IDs and timestamps. This enables queue priority analysis; you can determine where any order, including your own, sits in the queue at each price level, as well as fill probability estimation and market microstructure analysis. L3 is primarily used for sub-second execution or queue position analysis. From a performance standpoint, the latency difference between L3 and L2 feeds is negligible compared to transport time. The main cost is payload size: L3 describes every individual order in the book rather than cumulative quantity at each price level, which means more data to encode, transmit, and decode. If you can't articulate why you need individual order visibility, L2 is sufficient for most systematic strategies. The WebSocket book channel supports five depth levels -- 10, 25, 100, 500, and 1,000. Execution algorithms commonly use depth 10, which covers the actionable range with minimal payload overhead. Depths 500 and 1,000 are used for market impact modeling or analyzing deep liquidity and are more compute-intensive to maintain. OHLCV (candlestick data) is commonly used for backtesting. Moving averages, RSI, breakout signals, they all use OHLCV as input. But OHLCV alone doesn't tell you if your execution assumptions are realistic. If your backtest assumes you can fill 10 BTC at bid without slippage, you should validate that against trade history. Pull the trade feed to confirm that volume actually traded at those levels during your backtest period. WebSocket vs REST for OHLCV: Use WebSocket if you need the current candle updated in real-time as trades happen, rather than polling for a completed candle. Funding rate carry strategies harvest the periodic payments between longs and shorts on perpetual futures. You need current rates for live monitoring (futures ticker provides this) and historical rates for backtesting. Mark price vs. index price: The futures ticker includes both, along with the last traded price, three distinct values. Mark price determines liquidation risk and unrealized P&L. The index price is the real-time spot reference price used in funding rate calculations. During volatile periods, mark price and index price can diverge; when that spread widens, it signals basis risk or liquidation pressure, something carry traders need to monitor closely. The last traded price is a separate figure reflecting the most recent fill and is not the relevant comparison for assessing liquidation risk. New to Kraken's API? Start with ticker and OHLCV via REST. These are public (no authentication), simple to integrate, and cover most of initial strategy development. Add order book and trade feeds when you move to live execution. Create your API keys now, or for institutional scale or FIX access, get in touch: What market data does Kraken's API provide for free? Kraken's real-time market data feeds (ticker, order book (L2), trades, and OHLCV) do not require authentication. L3 individual order data requires authentication. What is the difference between L2 and L3 order book data on Kraken? L2 shows aggregated depth across price levels, which is sufficient for most systematic strategies. L3 shows all individual resting orders in the book with order IDs and timestamps, enabling queue priority analysis, fill probability estimation, and market microstructure analysis. L3 requires authentication. If you can't explain why you need full individual order visibility, you probably don't need it. Should I use WebSocket or REST for crypto market data? Use WebSocket if you need the current candle updated in real-time as trades happen, rather than polling for a completed candle. What data feeds do I need for a crypto execution algorithm? Execution algorithms commonly use L2 order book depth. The WebSocket book channel supports depths of 10, 25, 100, 500, and 1,000. Depth 10 is the standard starting point and covers the actionable range. Depths of 500 and 1,000 are used for market impact modeling and analyzing deep liquidity. Ticker data alone is insufficient when executing size because it doesn't show liquidity behind best bid/ask.
Kraken Robotics: Same Valuation, Much Bigger Business (Rating Upgrade) (OTCMKTS:KRKNF)
Analyst's Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of KRKNF either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Anduril, Kraken Scale Unmanned Vessels For Naval Dominance
Anduril Industries partnered with Kraken Technology Group to bring "small, high-performance, mass-producible" unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to the U.S. Navy. The partnership is designed to pair Kraken's autonomous boats with Anduril's defense stack. "This partnership reflects Kraken's commitment to supporting global maritime challenges with hardened operational capabilities at a critical point in history. Under this agreement, Kraken will deliver low-cost, scalable and modular systems that are both reliable and effective," said Mal Crease, founder and CEO of Kraken Technology Group. Under the agreement, Kraken's K7 SABRE and K5 KRAKEN USVs are slated to be produced and integrated in the U.S. through a licensing arrangement. The companies also plan to offer modular payload options intended to "improve flexibility and compatibility" for U.S. forces and NATO partners. "Kraken is known for its proven, battle-tested platforms. This partnership expands Anduril's family of autonomous surface offerings with small boats carrying mission payloads, adding a complementary capability to larger ASVs and the legacy fleet," said Cory Emmons, general manager of Surface Dominance, Anduril Industries. Photo: Shutterstock This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
Kraken to Congress: stop taxing every coffee and fix staking rules
Kraken says it filed 56m 2025 crypto tax forms, most under $50, and is urging Congress to create a de minimis exemption and let users defer tax on staking rewards until sale. Kraken is using this tax season to put hard numbers behind a long‑running complaint: the US treats trivial crypto transactions like serious taxable events. According to figures shared with CoinDesk and outlined in its US tax center materials, Kraken generated roughly 56 million crypto transaction tax forms for the 2025 tax year under new Infrastructure Act reporting rules. The kicker is the distribution. Kraken says about 18.5 million of those transactions -- roughly one‑third -- involved amounts under $1, around 74% were for trades or payments under $50, and only 8.5% exceeded the $600 reporting threshold that normally triggers IRS information returns like Form 1099‑MISC. Under current IRS guidance, each swap or spend is potentially a taxable event, regardless of size. Kraken's own tax guide notes that "most crypto activities are treated as either ordinary income or a capital gain," and that trading, NFT purchases, staking rewards, and airdrops "are not tax exempt," forcing users to track cost basis and fair market value even for micro‑purchases. Kraken is now asking Congress to step in. The exchange is calling for a statutory de minimis exemption on everyday crypto payments -- essentially a minimum dollar amount beneath which gains and losses would not be taxable -- and wants that threshold indexed to inflation so it doesn't erode over time. At the same time, Kraken wants lawmakers to fix what it sees as a broken approach to staking rewards. Revenue Ruling 2023‑14 currently requires taxpayers to include staking rewards in gross income when they gain "dominion and control," i.e., at the moment they're credited, even if the holder doesn't sell tokens and the price later dumps. Kraken argues that rule both complicates reporting and creates mismatches between paper income and actual liquidity. It is asking Congress to let taxpayers elect between two options: treat staking rewards as ordinary income at receipt (the status quo) or defer recognition until sale, effectively taxing them as part of capital gains when the position is exited. Practically, the exchange says, this would align US policy more closely with how staking works in DeFi and on centralized platforms like Kraken, where rewards accrue continuously and are often re‑staked rather than cashed out. Unless Congress moves, though, US users face another year where buying a sandwich with crypto generates a line item for the IRS -- and staking into a validator can mean owing tax on tokens they never sold.
Kraken Flags Massive Crypto Tax Burden as 74% of Forms Fall Below $50 - FinanceFeeds
Crypto exchange Kraken said it filed 56 million crypto-transaction forms with the Internal Revenue Service for the 2025 tax year, highlighting the scale of reporting now tied to digital asset activity. The data shows that a large portion of these filings relate to low-value transactions rather than large trades. Roughly 18.5 million of the forms covered transactions valued below $1, while more than half were for $10 or less. Only 8.5% of the newly introduced Form 1099-DAs exceeded $600, and 74% were below $50, according to the company. Each form is sent to both the IRS and the customer, creating a reconciliation requirement for taxpayers. Kraken estimates that an active crypto user may face an additional $250 to $500 annually for specialized tax software, on top of standard filing costs. "The hours taxpayers spend reconciling these micro-transactions, often with incomplete data, generate costs wildly disproportionate to any revenue the IRS will collect from them," Kraken said. The reporting burden stems from the absence of a de minimis exemption for crypto payments. Under current rules, even small transactions can trigger taxable events that must be calculated and reported individually. Kraken highlighted that paying for everyday purchases using crypto requires users to determine the cost basis of the specific portion spent and calculate gains or losses for each transaction. This requirement applies regardless of transaction size. Brokers reporting for 2025 provide gross proceeds without cost basis, meaning forms show what was sold but not the original purchase price. This has led to confusion among users, with Kraken reporting thousands of client inquiries tied to incomplete reporting data. The broader tax burden is already significant. The Tax Foundation estimates that US taxpayers spend $146 billion annually in time and expenses on tax compliance, while the National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates an average of 13 hours and $290 per return for non-business filers. Kraken identified staking rewards as a second source of reporting complexity. Under current rules, rewards are treated as ordinary income at the time they are received, based on market value at that moment. Many users retain these tokens rather than selling them, creating a mismatch between taxable income and realized cash flow. If token prices decline after receipt, users may face tax liabilities that exceed the current value of their holdings. Kraken described this as phantom income and noted that a large share of sub-dollar Form 1099-DAs were tied to staking distributions, further contributing to the volume of low-value filings. Kraken is advocating for legislative changes to address these issues. The exchange is calling for a broad, inflation-indexed de minimis exemption that would exclude small transactions from taxable reporting, rather than limiting such provisions to stablecoins. It is also urging lawmakers to allow taxpayers to choose when staking rewards are taxed, either at the time of receipt under current rules or at the point of sale when gains or losses are realized. The company said existing exchange infrastructure already supports both reporting approaches, but regulatory authorization is required to implement this flexibility. As crypto adoption expands, the outcome of these proposals may shape how digital assets are used in everyday transactions and investment strategies.
Kraken Calls for De Minimus Exemption on Crypto Taxes after 2025 Reports
The crypto exchange advocated for two key changes to US tax law affecting crypto users to "eliminate millions of unnecessary forms." Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken called for a change in US tax policy after reporting millions of cases of transactions "worth less than $1" as part of its reporting requirements for 2025. In a Wednesday blog post, Kraken said it issued more than 56 million tax forms -- 1099-DAs -- to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2025 as now required by law. However, the exchange said that about 18.5 million of those forms were for transactions under $1, with about 28 million for $10 or less and 75% under $50. In an effort to "eliminate millions of unnecessary forms," the exchange called for a de minimis exemption for taxes to exclude "small, routine digital asset payments from capital gains reporting." It similarly advocated for an end to "phantom" income derived from staking cryptocurrencies, requiring holders to "owe taxes on value they have not realized" by not selling their staking rewards. "This is not about helping crypto companies," said Kraken about its recommendations. "It is about 55 million Americans, spanning every state, age bracket and industry, who are navigating a tax system designed before digital assets existed. Congress should act to make taxpayers' lives easier." Reporting requirements for both holders and exchanges have changed significantly since the advent of cryptocurrencies. Although there have been proposals for a de minimis tax exemption for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), the most recent draft bill in the US Congress suggested that only stablecoin transactions under $200 trigger reporting to the IRS. Related: NY lawmaker proposes 'AI dividend' to address potential job losses According to a Fortune report citing data from the nonprofit Tax Foundation, individual returns cost US taxpayers $146 billion in time and out-of-pocket expenses. The Trump administration ended the IRS's free Direct File tax filing program in November 2025. The program had allowed eligible taxpayers to file their taxes online at no cost. After the crypto exchange filed for a confidential initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025, reports signaled that Kraken may have put its plan on hold amid volatile market conditions. However, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed reports at a Semafor event in April that the company would likely go public soon.
Kraken Submits 56M IRS Forms for 2025, With Majority Covering Micro‑Transactions - Crypto Economy
The exchange Kraken filed a total of 56 million Form 1099-DA forms with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year 2025. Of that total, 18.5 million covered transactions below one dollar, and more than half corresponded to operations under ten dollars. Only 8.5% exceeded $600, the threshold that in most other areas of the tax code triggers the reporting obligation. The exchange published the data alongside a clear position: the problem is not the technology, but the tax code. Each form issued implies a reconciliation task for the taxpayer, and standard tax software does not process cryptocurrency transactions. Kraken estimated that an active holder may spend between $250 and $500 annually on specialized tools alone, not counting the hours spent reconciling transactions. The Tax Foundation calculates that individual filings already cost Americans $146 billion in time and expenses. The company identified two specific problems. The first is the absence of a de minimis exemption for everyday payments with cryptocurrencies. Under current rules, buying a hamburger with Bitcoin generates a taxable event that requires the taxpayer to calculate the cost basis of the fraction of currency used and report the gain or loss on the corresponding form. The Cato Institute noted that paying for a daily coffee with BTC can translate into more than one hundred pages of tax filings. The second problem is the treatment of staking. Rewards are considered ordinary income at the moment of receipt, valued at the market price of that day. If the token falls in value before the filing, the taxpayer may owe taxes on an amount exceeding the current value of the asset, which Kraken calls phantom income. A significant portion of the sub-dollar forms issued corresponded precisely to staking distributions. Legislation currently before Congress includes a de minimis provision, but limited to payment stablecoins. Kraken is asking for it to be extended to all digital assets, indexed to inflation, and accompanied by safeguards against abusive structuring. The exchange also requests that taxpayers be able to choose when to pay taxes on staking rewards: upon receipt or at the time of sale. The exchange's systems already support both reporting methods; Congress only needs to authorize the option.
Binance.US Launches Zero Trading Fees to Compete With Coinbase and Kraken - FinanceFeeds
Binance.US has reduced spot trading fees across all digital assets to near zero, introducing 0% maker fees and 0.02% taker fees on all trading pairs. The move marks one of the most aggressive pricing shifts among U.S.-based crypto exchanges. Maker fees apply to orders that add liquidity to the order book, while taker fees are charged when trades are executed immediately against existing orders. By eliminating maker fees entirely and sharply reducing taker costs, Binance.US is lowering the barrier for both active and passive traders. Unlike prior promotions, the updated pricing applies broadly, including low-volume traders and smaller transactions, removing tier-based advantages typically reserved for high-frequency participants. The pricing overhaul comes as the platform continues to recover from a prolonged slowdown following regulatory pressure in 2023. Binance.US suspended U.S. dollar deposits and withdrawals after a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, effectively operating as a crypto-only platform for nearly two years. Although the SEC later dropped its civil case and fiat rails have since been restored, user activity has remained limited. Recent data shows Binance.US trailing significantly behind competitors, with daily trading volume far below both its global counterpart and major U.S. exchanges. "American crypto traders have been paying too much for too long," said Binance.US CEO Stephen Gregory. "Today we're proving that a fully regulated U.S. platform can also be the most affordable one, and that competition in this industry directly benefits consumers." The fee cut appears aimed at addressing this gap by drawing attention back to the platform and encouraging higher trading activity. Binance.US's revised fee structure undercuts most major competitors in the U.S. market. Coinbase, for example, applies a tiered system where retail traders can face taker fees of up to 60 basis points and maker fees of 40 basis points on smaller trades. The global Binance platform typically charges around 0.10% for both makers and takers, with discounts for high-volume users and token holders. By comparison, Binance.US is now offering materially lower costs even without volume-based incentives. This pricing shift places pressure on competitors, particularly as crypto exchanges are often criticized for charging higher fees than traditional brokerages. Lower fees may narrow that gap and reshape how exchanges compete for retail flow. Despite the pricing reset, Binance.US continues to operate from a weakened position following its regulatory and operational disruptions. Trading volumes remain low relative to peers, and rebuilding market share will require more than cost reductions. The platform also remains tied to broader legal and reputational developments linked to Binance. The company and former CEO Changpeng Zhao previously pleaded guilty to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act in a case brought by the Department of Justice, adding to the scrutiny surrounding its operations. Leadership changes have followed, with Stephen Gregory appointed CEO in March as part of efforts to stabilize the business and re-engage users. Whether fee reductions can translate into sustained growth will depend on the platform's ability to restore liquidity and compete on execution alongside pricing.
Kraken commences K3 USV production with Rheinmetall, partners with Anduril
An image of Kraken's K3 Scout USV accompanying Rheinmetall-Kraken's announcement of series production of the K3 on 20 April 2026. The image was likely taken during a demonstration in Hamburg in March 2026. (Rheinmetall Naval Systems) Rheinmetall Kraken GmbH has commenced series production of the K3 Scout unmanned surface vehicle (USV) at its Blohm+Voss site in Hamburg, Germany, the company said in a press release on 20 April 2026. In the press release, Tim Wagner, CEO of Rheinmetall's Naval Systems division said that "production of the Kraken K3 Scout is initially planned for around 200 units per year. Depending on order volume, we can ramp up production to up to 1,000 units annually." K3 production is intended to address "the increased global demand for commercially available unmanned platforms of varying sizes", the press release said. K3 is intended as a low-cost and low-signature USV featuring composite construction and diesel propulsion. The USV features a modular payload bay and can be configured according to customer requirements. The K3 Scouts in production in Hamburg are 8.5 m in length and capable of reaching speeds of 55 kt, indicating the K3 Scout Medium variant of the USV. Other versions of the USV include the 11 m K3 Scout Heavy and the 18.6 m K3 Scout Max. K3 can be used for civilian or military tasks including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), logistics, search-and-rescue (SAR), survey tasks, anti-surface warfare (ASuW), counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) missions, one-way attacks, and other kinetic missions. The Rheinmetall Kraken joint venture (JV) was originally announced between German shipyard Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) and British company Kraken Technology Group on 22 August 2025. In September 2025, it was announced that Rheinmetall was to acquire NVL with the transition concluded on 1 March 2026.
Anduril, Kraken Team Up on Scalable Unmanned Surface Vessels for US Navy
Anduril Industries has partnered with Kraken Technology Group to provide the US Navy with a family of small unmanned surface vessels (USVs), focusing on platforms designed for payload flexibility, endurance, and scalable production. Under the agreement, Anduril will produce Kraken-designed USVs at US-based facilities, including the K5 and K7 variants, and will be responsible for fleet sustainment and support. The company will also integrate mission payloads and its Lattice autonomy software, adapting each platform to its respective operational role. Kraken brings an existing portfolio of USV designs developed with an emphasis on speed and endurance, with prior testing conducted in the UK. According to the companies, the initiative aligns with US Navy requirements for smaller unmanned systems capable of carrying payloads exceeding 1,000 pounds (about 454 kilograms), operating over extended periods, and being produced at scale. Kraken platforms are designed for extended operations, with endurance reaching 30 days and reported operational ranges of around 2,000 kilometers (about 1,240 miles), extending to approximately 10,000 kilometers (about 6,200 miles) in higher-end configurations. The recent partnership builds on previous collaboration between Kraken and US defense entities and contractors. In 2025, the US Special Operations Command awarded Kraken a $49-million Other Transaction Authority agreement to accelerate the development of next-generation uncrewed surface and subsurface vessels. The work focuses on prototype systems using low-signature designs, advanced materials, and modular payload architectures. A year earlier, Kraken partnered with BlueHalo to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities into its unmanned platforms. The collaboration covered multiple systems, including the K3 Scout surface drone, the K4 Manta subsea vehicle, and the K5 Kraken littoral platform, with the aim of expanding autonomous functionality across both surface and underwater operations.
Inside Kraken's ethCC: xStocks, Ink, and 17 teams building in 55 hours
Across four days of mainstage talks, side events, and a three-day hackathon, the Kraken team showed up with a clear point of view: the infrastructure for onchain capital markets is being built right now, and the builders doing it deserve tools, support, and a real stage. We had four speakers on the program across EthCC's main conference and the adjacent RWA Summit, a concentration that reflects where our thinking is focused at the moment. Monday opened with Magna CEO Bruno Faviero's panel titled "Future of Money" featuring Zerion and Cap Money. They discussed the future of onchain yield-bearing assets, and whether more growth would come from crypto-native assets or vaults that bring traditional finance assets onchain. Later that afternoon, Kraken General Manager of xStocks Val Gui returned to the same stage with "Don't Build Trading Venues. Build Onchain Capital Markets," a talk that drew a sharp distinction between the exchange model the industry has defaulted to and what a genuinely open, programmable capital markets layer could look like. Since Kraken's acquisition of xStocks parent company Backed, the xStocks platform has grown to over 100 tokenized stocks and ETFs, while surpassing $25 billion in total transaction volume, cementing its position as the world's largest provider of tokenized equities. On Tuesday, Val took that thread further at the RWA Summit with "Approaches and Learnings from Tokenized Equities", drawing on Kraken's work in the space to walk through what's actually hard about bringing real-world assets onchain and what the path forward looks like in practice. That same afternoon, Noid took the Burton Stage for "Cooking With GASS: A Developer-Friendly Airdrop Mechanism," a tight breakdown of a mechanism designed to make token distribution more thoughtful and less chaotic for the teams building on top of it. All four talks are a fair representation of where we're spending our energy: less on what crypto could eventually become, more on what builders can ship today. The Kraken hackathon ran Tuesday through Thursday at the Carlton, wrapping up Thursday afternoon ahead of the afterparty. Fifty-four participants across 17 teams had roughly 55 hours to build, and the output was strong enough that the judging panel split prizes across six winners rather than the standard podium. The top three went to xPrime (first), Stretch by Spreads (second), and xStream (third). A $10,000 discretionary prize was split three ways between Paragon, Castar/Aura, and Otomato, teams whose projects the panel felt warranted recognition beyond the ranked placings. The hackathon closed out with the Code to Coast afterparty at Lucia Beach on Thursday evening, a low-key wind-down that gave participants and Kraken team members a chance to debrief somewhere with better views than a hotel conference room. Outside the main conference, we hosted three intimate gatherings that reflected different corners of what we're building. Tuesday evening brought the Ink event, Proof of Liquidity, drawing around 250 people for a focused conversation on liquidity infrastructure and what Ink's architecture makes possible. Wednesday morning was a smaller-format Magna Brunch, followed that evening by a Listings Dinner. All three were at capacity, and the conversations were exactly the kind that don't happen on a main stage. EthCC has always been a conference for people who are actually building, which is why it continues to matter. This year, between the talks, the hackathon output, and the side events, we came away with a stronger conviction that the onchain capital markets thesis isn't speculative anymore: teams are executing on it, and we intend to keep making that easier. See you next year.
'$60 Billion Trapped' -- Inside The Plumbing Problem Kraken's IPO Exposed
Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of Kraken, told the Semafor World Economy Summit on April 14 that what retail crypto traders really want is what Citadel, Jane Street and JPMorgan already have. "That's our mission," he said. "How do we make all these products open?" Sethi used the appearance to confirm that Kraken's confidential S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission is still active, first filed in November 2025 and paused this March when markets softened. The product Kraken wants to sell retail is the same product its institutional desk already sells: tight spreads, fast settlement, credit lines. Two founders building the middleware that would make that product work at scale say the plumbing underneath is still a decade behind foreign exchange. "No matter what your views on Bitcoin or Ethereum, that new capital wants to enter this space," BridgePort CEO Nirup Ramalingam told me on my podcast On The Margin. "So we have to build an infrastructure that's needed for them." Roughly $60 billion sits trapped in pre-funded accounts across crypto exchanges, according to BridgePort, because institutions do not trust the venues enough to leave assets there. And the off-chain attack surface that made Bybit, Resolv and Drift the year's biggest breaches is getting wider, not narrower. Institutional crypto's next leg up is not a new ETF wrapper or a regulatory tailwind. It is plumbing. And Kraken's pricing window will put the numbers in the open. Ramalingam spent two decades in foreign exchange and fixed income infrastructure before co-founding BridgePort. His pitch frames institutional crypto through a direct FX comparison. "In FX, seven trillion dollars is traded every single day between institutions. In crypto, that number is something like 100x less, somewhere between 50 and 70 billion," he said, adding that spot crypto volumes were suppressed the week we recorded. (The Bank for International Settlements' 2025 triennial survey, released in September, put daily global FX turnover closer to $9.6 trillion these days.) The gap, in Ramalingam's telling, is not about the asset class. It is about how trades settle. "Institutions with millions of dollars don't want to deposit assets on every single exchange. When they're not trading on any particular exchange, that's debt capital. Debt capital is no ROI basically." The pre-funding model dates to Mt. Gox. You wired dollars, Mt. Gox credited your account, you traded. Fifteen years later the model still survives, and the cost is that institutions park billions at venues they do not fully trust just to have execution optionality. "This is what really enabled FTX collapse to happen," Ramalingam said. "Traders could have been making money but unfortunately their money wasn't secured and segregated. It was either inadvertently or nefariously taken up by the exchange." BridgePort's answer is to sit as middleware between exchanges and custodians, letting trading firms pledge assets at a regulated custodian and draw a credit line on the exchange. Ramalingam described it in one line: "BridgePort is the Plaid for crypto." Assets stay with the custodian. The exchange sees a balance it can lend against. When the trader wants to move capital, it reallocates in milliseconds rather than hours of on-chain withdrawals and deposits. The guardrail is that the pledged amount cannot be double-allocated across venues, something BridgePort enforces in software. The institutional uptake is already visible in the plumbing itself. In March, 360T's crypto trading platform 3DX integrated BridgePort as its off-exchange settlement layer. 360T is owned by Deutsche Börse, the German exchange operator with a market capitalization of roughly $50 billion. Anchorage Digital integrated BridgePort in December. BridgePort also plugged into the Lynq settlement network, whose other members include B2C2, Crypto.com, Galaxy Digital and FalconX. The middleware layer is being built in public by entities that do not generally enter businesses early. Ramalingam is explicit about where that leads. "In fact, some in the US cannot pre-fund because of regulations," he said of traditional asset managers. "So they have to hold their assets with the qualified custodian. Unless you put those qualifiers in place, how can crypto scale?" The other plumbing problem is not about capital. It is about keys. Ido Sofer spent seven years at the Israeli Ministry of Finance before founding Sodot, a key management infrastructure company whose name means "secrets" in Hebrew. His read of 2026's biggest crypto losses is blunt. "Starting from Bybit and moving forward to a lot of others, including the recent ones like Resolv, Drift and others," Sofer said. "Those are off-chain hacks that led to on-chain loss of funds. Developer credentials, deployment keys, API keys that are being stolen. And that provided access to moving funds on chain." It is not the first time the industry has had to rebuild after a security shock. What matters about that framing is that the smart contracts were not broken. The operational security around them was. Sofer calls the new state of play "custody 2.0": it is no longer enough to secure private keys, because the attack surface has expanded to every credential a crypto firm uses to push code, connect to an exchange, or deploy a vault. "Attackers understood that before infrastructure teams and before security teams," he said. "It's upon us, the crypto companies, the infrastructure companies to close this operational security gap." Sofer's recommendation for institutions is multiparty computation, the cryptographic technique that splits a key into shards held in different geographies, operating systems and sometimes different legal entities. None of the shards alone can move funds, and no single compromise, whether of an employee, a cloud provider or a country's legal process, breaks the vault. Sodot sells a self-hosted version because institutions insist on running the software themselves. "This is how they do everything," Sofer said, referring to how asset managers and regulated entities have always built internal infrastructure. The market, he added, has "changed itself for those institutions so they will feel comfortable." Sofer's mental model for defending against nation state attackers is colder than the industry usually admits. "North Korea, they spend a significant amount of resources and they're gonna be successful one way or another," he said. "So what can you do? You apply risk distribution and add other layers of security on top of it, and then essentially you're making it very hard, much harder than other companies in the space." The gazelle does not have to outrun the lion. It has to outrun the slowest gazelle. Pre-funded balances and unhardened keys are the same problem wearing two masks. Neither pitch is radical. Off-exchange settlement is how every other asset class settles. MPC custody is how any banking institution with more than a billion dollars would design a new vault from scratch. Both are being rebuilt, in public, by founders who came from places where this was solved a generation ago: Ramalingam from FX and fixed income, Sofer from an Israeli government that treats cryptographic infrastructure as a strategic asset. Neither Kraken nor any other public-listing candidate will get through a diligence process without showing buyers how both have been solved. The Kraken filing will be the market's first extended look at what institutional crypto infrastructure actually generates in revenue. Sethi's April round valued Kraken at $13.3 billion, roughly a third below the $20 billion the company commanded in late 2025. Deutsche Börse's $200 million secondary purchase in that round is the same Deutsche Börse whose 360T subsidiary integrated BridgePort's off-exchange settlement rail in March. The same parent is betting on Kraken's equity and on the plumbing Kraken would need to scale its institutional business. "What they want at the end of the day is what Citadel and Jane Street have, or JPMorgan has," Sethi said at Semafor. Whether Kraken can deliver it depends on whether the middleware layer Ramalingam and Sofer are quietly building is ready for the dollars that come with an IPO. "Another collapse like FTX cannot happen," Ramalingam said of the institutions now circling crypto. Kraken's S-1 will be the first time the public sees how much of the plumbing designed to make that promise true is already generating revenue, and how much is still being built.
Polymarket launches trading of heavily leveraged 'perps' contracts
Prediction markets platform Polymarket is expanding into trading of perpetual futures contacts, the company said Tuesday. The announcement comes on the heels of a report from The Information that its main rival Kalshi has plans to offer crypto trading, including perpetuals. These are futures contracts that stay open indefinitely, allowing traders to hold leveraged exposure and exit anytime they want as long as they have enough funds to maintain it. Polymarket has not specified whether its offering will include crypto perpetual futures, but the company is highly crypto friendly. It's built on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains and denominates trades primarily in the stablecoin USDC. Crypto traders were major drivers of Polymarket's meteoric rise in 2024. The move puts Kalshi -- and perhaps Polymarket, if its offering includes crypto perpetuals -- in more direct competition with Robinhood, Coinbase and Kraken, all of which have added prediction markets into their offerings in the past year, highlighting the value of young, speculative and risk-tolerant retail traders. While not widely available in the U.S., international perpetuals, or "perps," became especially popular among the crypto crowd in the industry's early years as a workaround to traditional finance limitations. Last year, the top Last year, the top centralized crypto exchanges registered $86.2 trillion in annual perps volume and 47% growth from the previous year, according to CoinGecko. By expanding into perps, Polymarket and Kalshi are tapping into derivatives trading at a time when cryptocurrency prices have stalled and trading activity has slowed - even if signs of longer-term institutional demand remain intact. Perps have the ability to keep the ecosystem active by generating more consistent volume and allowing traders to speculate on short-term moves, hedge existing positions, and use leverage -- regardless of the direction of the market. Neither Kalshi nor Polymarket responded to a request for comment. -- CNBC's Liz Napolitano contributed reporting.
Prediction Market Giants Kalshi, Polymarket Eye Perpetual Futures Push: Report - Decrypt
Polymarket and Kalshi can provide access to futures and options under the CFTC's framework for Designated Contract Markets. Polymarket announced on Tuesday that users will soon be able to trade perpetual futures on its platform, while chief rival Kalshi reportedly eyes a similar push into the derivatives space. In an X post, Polymarket published a video indicating that users will be able to speculate on the price of various assets with at least 10x leverage, including real-world assets like gold and silver, stocks of companies like Nvidia and Coinbase, and digital assets like Bitcoin. Not long before, The Information reported that Kalshi plans to support perpetual futures on its platform, a move that would give U.S. customers access to derivative contracts that don't feature an expiration date and use a so-called funding rate to trade around the clock. For the prediction-market realm's leading firms, an entry into the perpetual futures space would extend the platforms' functionality beyond relatively basic bets on topics such as politics, finance, and sports -- underscoring their respective efforts to expand their business models. Polymarket and Kalshi are already able to provide access to futures and options under the CFTC's framework for so-called Designated Contract Markets. It is unclear whether Polymarket plans to introduce perpetual futures on its U.S.-facing platform, its international counterpart, or both. Decrypt has reached out to Kalshi and Polymarket for comment. The development comes as CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, aligns itself with other players soliciting bets. Earlier this year, CME Group indicated that it would debut event contracts in collaboration with FanDuel, America's leading online sportsbook. Recent interest in perpetual futures has been fueled by Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that facilitated $148 billion in derivatives volume last month, according to a Dune dashboard. In February, Hyperliquid said in an X post that it planned to support "outcome trading," which would allow for the creation of prediction markets and option-like instruments on its platform. "There has been extensive user demand in both of these areas," Hyperliquid said. Among crypto-native firms, dueling derivatives announcements have happened before. A week after crypto exchange Kraken debuted CME-based futures contracts for Bitcoin and Ethereum in the U.S. last July, Coinbase began offering similar contracts with five-year durations. On Tuesday, Coinbase found itself on the defensive amid its own prediction-market push alongside Gemini. The state of New York filed a pair of lawsuits against both firms, arguing that sports- and entertainment-related wagers were allowed in violation of local gambling laws.
Anduril and Kraken team up on US naval drones
Anduril Industries and Kraken Technology Group have announced a partnership to develop and manufacture unmanned surface vessels for the United States and allied navies, the companies stated. The agreement, unveiled at the Sea-Air-Space exposition in Washington, is intended to support the U.S. Navy's transition towards a more distributed "hybrid fleet" combining crewed ships with autonomous systems. Under the partnership, the two firms will jointly develop and produce a family of small, high-speed unmanned vessels, including the K7 SABRE and K5 KRAKEN platforms. These systems will be manufactured and integrated in the United States under licence, alongside modular payloads designed for a range of missions. The companies said the collaboration is aimed at delivering scalable and rapidly deployable capabilities, with a focus on interoperability across U.S. forces and NATO partners. Mal Crease, Founder and CEO of Kraken Technology Group, said: "This partnership reflects Kraken's commitment to supporting global maritime challenges with hardened operational capabilities at a critical point in history." He added: "Under this agreement Kraken will deliver low-cost, scalable and modular systems that are both reliable and effective." Cory Emmons, General Manager of Surface Dominance at Anduril, said the agreement would expand the company's existing portfolio of autonomous maritime systems. "Kraken is known for their proven, battle-tested platforms. This partnership expands Anduril's family of autonomous surface offerings with small boats carrying mission payloads, adding a complementary capability to larger ASVs and the legacy fleet." Kraken, a UK-based company, has been expanding its presence in the United States in recent years. The announcement follows a $49 million award from U.S. Special Operations Command and additional international contracts, positioning the firm within a growing market for autonomous maritime systems.
Anduril and Kraken partner to deliver mission-ready maritime power at scale - Naval News
Defense technology giant Anduril Industries and autonomous maritime technology company Kraken Technology Group announced their partnership at the Sea-Air-Space Expo to support the US Navy's transition to a hybrid fleet. Kraken Technology press release Through this agreement the companies are positioned to rapidly develop and deliver a capable, scalable, and mission-ready unmanned fleet. The strategic partnership includes the joint development of long-range, high-performance, integrated capabilities to address domestic and international requirements for small, fast quick-reaction vessels - including upcoming US Navy programmes. Both the K7 SABRE and K5 KRAKEN USVs will be manufactured and integrated under license in the US, alongside a range of modular payload systems designed to deliver expanded versatility and interoperability across US forces and NATO partners. The agreement further strengthens Kraken's position in the US market, following the recent award of a $49 million Other Transaction Authority (OTA) by US SOCOM and several other international contract wins. Mal Crease, Founder & CEO, Kraken Technology Group, said: "This partnership reflects Kraken's commitment to supporting global maritime challenges with hardened operational capabilities at a critical point in history. Under this agreement Kraken will deliver low-cost, scalable and modular systems that are both reliable and effective." Cory Emmons, General Manager of Surface Dominance, Anduril Industries, said: "Kraken is known for their proven, battle-tested platforms. This partnership expands Anduril's family of autonomous surface offerings with small boats carrying mission payloads, adding a complementary capability to larger ASVs and the legacy fleet."
Kraken Freezes $12M While Memecore Scrutiny Grows
Concerns center on insider activity, pre-launch withdrawals, and inflated token valuation. Kraken received public recognition this week for its role in a cross-border fraud operation that froze over $12 million in illicit funds. Separately, blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleged the exchange listed Memecore (M), a token he linked to $7.9 million in suspicious pre-launch withdrawals. He also alleged insider activity that inflated the token's valuation ahead of trading. Payward, the company behind Kraken, participated in Operation Atlantic, a coordinated enforcement initiative spanning the UK, the United States, and Canada. The operation targeted crypto-related fraud with a particular focus on approval phishing schemes, a method that tricks victims into granting wallet access to malicious actors, typically through deceptive smart contract interactions that authorize withdrawals from the victim's wallet without their ongoing consent. Investigators identified more than $45 million in suspected criminal proceeds, froze over $12 million linked to illicit activity, and flagged upwards of 20,000 potential victims across multiple jurisdictions. The investigators noted that Kraken's contributions included data sharing, direct identification of affected users, and embedding staff alongside law enforcement during the investigation. Once scammers obtain wallet access, asset recovery is rarely achieved, and most enforcement efforts are directed at prevention. The enforcement recognition arrives alongside separate scrutiny of Kraken's listing practices. ZachXBT's findings concern $M, which debuted for trading in July 2025. ZachXBT linked $7.9 million in suspicious withdrawals to a cluster of newly created addresses that, collectively, came to hold assets now valued at close to $39.8 million, reflecting the token's price appreciation since launch. His analysis also pointed to what he characterized as insider activity that allegedly inflated the token's apparent valuation ahead of its launch. Blockchain data, according to ZachXBT's findings, suggests a wallet believed to be controlled by the project's team transferred millions of tokens to exchange-linked addresses in the period immediately before trading opened. He also flagged concerns about the project's reported metrics: the headline figures leaned heavily on trading volume and user engagement driven by incentivized campaigns with little evidence of real-world use or organic user growth. ZachXBT also issued a caution to traders considering short positions against heavily manipulated tokens, noting that insider-controlled markets can inflict losses regardless of a trader's position. ZachXBT's Memecore findings were published within days of Kraken's Operation Atlantic recognition. ZachXBT named several other projects in recent weeks, including RAVE, SIREN, MYX, COAI, PIPPIN, and RIVER, as exhibiting what he characterized as highly questionable price action, with some of those tokens having traded on major centralized exchanges like Binance, Bitget, and Gate.io before his publications. At the time of publication, Kraken has not issued a public response to ZachXBT's investigation into the Memecore listing. Memecore has also not issued a public statement addressing the findings.
