Kraken Acquires Breakout Trading Platform
U.S. crypto exchange Kraken has announced its acquisition of the proprietary trading platform Breakout, as disclosed on Thursday, as part of its strategy to enhance services before an anticipated public offering.
Based in San Francisco, California, Kraken stated that it acquired Breakout for the benefit of advanced traders. The platform provides eligible users access to as much as $200,000 in notional capital while allowing them to keep up to 90% of their profits. Notably, top traders receive rewards for executing large trades.
“Breakout gives us a way to allocate capital based on proof of skill rather than access to capital itself,” said Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi in a statement. “In a world that is rapidly shifting from who you know to what you know, we want to build systems that reward demonstrated performance, not pedigree.”
Breakout provides traders with up to 5 times leverage on BTC and ETH contracts. However, traders must successfully complete an evaluation before being granted a notional capital allocation, and they are subject to retests if they exceed drawdown limits.
In a press release, Kraken emphasized that it was “empowering” successful “traders to allocate at size into crypto markets,” and reiterated its commitment to delivering “innovative, performance-based products.” The company anticipates integrating Breakout into its Kraken Pro platform.
The launch occurs as Kraken introduces new offerings, including stocks and exchange-traded fund trading in select U.S. states. In March, Kraken also revealed its acquisition of futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.
A Kraken spokesperson confirmed earlier this year that the company intends to go public, potentially as soon as early 2026, as reported by Bloomberg. This move would make Kraken the second U.S.-based crypto exchange to list publicly, following Coinbase’s debut on Nasdaq in April 2021.
Kraken’s plans arise amid a more favorable political and regulatory climate for digital assets, a shift attributed to the administration of Donald Trump, who received substantial donations from key industry figures during his 2024 presidential campaign.
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In late March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed enforcement actions against Kraken along with two other crypto firms that jointly filed stipulations to dismiss the cases with prejudice, rendering those decisions final and not subject to refile. The regulator has also concluded cases against Coinbase, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, and OpenSea, among others.
Sethi remarked that the acquisition enables Kraken to offer a service aligned with the functionality of “modern capital platforms.”
“By integrating Breakout into Kraken, we are building an infrastructure layer where traders can earn their way into size, deploy capital with minimal friction, and get paid on merit,” he stated.
