The institutional backbone of digital asset markets is strengthening, underscored by two major developments this week. Keyrock, a global crypto market maker, closed a $1.1 billion Series C round, while exchange giant Kraken reported a significant revenue jump driven by stablecoin integration and decentralized finance (DeFi) ambitions.
Keyrock's $1.1B milestone
Brussels-based Keyrock, founded in 2017, announced the funding round on March 31, 2026, led by SC Ventures—the venture arm of Standard Chartered—with continued backing from Ripple. The raise values the liquidity provider at $1.1 billion. According to Keyrock, the fresh capital will strengthen its balance sheet, accelerate product innovation, and support targeted acquisitions. The firm now operates across more than 85 centralized and decentralized trading venues, with a team of over 220 employees in 37 countries.
Keyrock’s core market-making service places continuous bid and ask orders to keep spreads tight and ensure delta neutrality, a critical function for both retail and institutional traders. Beyond that, it offers OTC trading, options structures, treasury management, and liquidity pool management. Its institutional reach expanded in March 2026 when it joined Finery Markets as a liquidity provider, extending infrastructure to over 1,300 digital asset markets. CEO Kevin de Patoul noted that “as institutions continue to increase their exposure to digital assets, scale and network depth become critical infrastructure requirements.”
In September 2025, Keyrock broadened into asset and wealth management by acquiring Luxembourg-based Turing Capital. The firm also filed for authorization under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation through Liechtenstein, aiming to offer portfolio management and advisory across Europe. Keyrock’s research division projects that spot Bitcoin ETF holdings could surpass 2.5 million BTC and onchain perpetual open interest exceed $50 billion in 2026, signaling a deeper institutionalization of crypto markets.
Kraken’s DeFi and stablecoin pivot
Kraken, meanwhile, is positioning itself as a hybrid CeDeFi hub. CoinGecko data shows the exchange averaged $1.07 billion in monthly spot volume between January and April 2026, outperforming its perpetuals business. A deliberate shift toward tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and stablecoin-based payment rails is reshaping its listing strategy: of the 147 new spot tokens added in the first four months of 2026, 66 focused on RWAs or xStocks—tokenized equities like NVIDIA and Apple. Even perpetuals saw RWA-themed contracts, marking Kraken’s entry into equity-linked derivatives.
Stablecoin reserves tell a nuanced story. Overall exchange holdings dipped 5.1% to $14.36 billion by early May, but stablecoin reserves plunged 43.4% from $750.6 million to $424.6 million. Yet stablecoin-fiat pairs still made up 5.9% of the top 20 spot pairs, functioning as liquidity bridges. This reallocation coincided with Kraken’s acquisitions of Backed Finance (tokenization), Bitnomial (futures), and Reap Technologies (stablecoin payments). A Federal Reserve master account secured in March 2026 further enables efficient cross-border settlements.
Financially, Kraken’s adjusted revenue soared from $700 million in 2023 to $2.2 billion in 2025, with EBITDA turning positive at $531 million. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed the company is about 80% ready for a U.S. IPO. These moves position Kraken as a regulated gateway that bridges centralized trading with DeFi protocols, potentially redefining how users interact with tokenized assets and stablecoins.
