Crypto Currents: Kraken confidentially files for IPO

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KRAKEN CONFIDENTIALLY FILES FOR IPO: Payward, doing business as Kraken, announced Wednesday that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed IPO of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. The move comes after the company announced Tuesday that it was valued at $20B in its latest fundraising, a 33% increase in under two months.

COINBASE TO LAUNCH PREDICTION MARKET: Coinbase (COIN) is preparing to launch a prediction market to allow its crypto clients to bet on events such as elections and sports, two people familiar with the matter told The Information. The market will be powered by prediction market company Kalshi and Coinbase, which will be joining “a booming but increasingly crowded field,” is set to share details about its prediction market and other products at a December 17 event, the report noted.

Additionally, Erste Group downgraded Coinbase to Hold from Buy. While Coinbase is benefiting from the increasing spread of cryptocurrencies, the increasing supply of low-cost bitcoin ETFs is jeopardizing “lucrative” private customer revenues that are an important source of income and replacing this business with ETF providers will “significantly” reduce profitability, the analyst said.

CIPHER MINING, FLUIDSTACK SIGN ADDITIONAL HOSTING AGREEMENT: Cipher Mining (CIFR) announced Thursday a 10-year high-performance computing colocation agreement with Fluidstack. Under the agreement, Cipher will deliver an additional 39 MW of critical IT load, supported by a maximum of 56 MW of additional gross capacity, at its Barber Lake site in Colorado City, Texas. With these newly contracted megawatts, Fluidstack will increase the size of its original transaction and will lease the entire 300 MW of capacity at Cipher’s Barber Lake site. The agreement represents approximately $830M in contracted revenue over the initial 10-year term and includes two five-year extension options. If exercised, these extension options would bring the total contracted revenue for this transaction to approximately $2B and approximately $9B in total for the entire lease. In addition, Google (GOOGL) will backstop an additional $333M of Fluidstack’s lease obligations to support project-related debt.

“We’re excited to expand our partnerships with Fluidstack and Google as we develop the remaining current capacity at our Barber Lake site,” said Tyler Page, Cipher’s CEO. “This third transaction further validates Cipher’s position as a leader in HPC development and underscores the strong momentum that will continue to drive growth across our pipeline of sites.”

Additionally on Wednesday, Citizens JMP initiated coverage of Cipher Mining with an Outperform rating and $30 price target. The firm launched coverage of five companies previously in bitcoin mining, saying they provide “critically-scarce” power supply for high performance compute and artificial intelligence. The deployment of graphics processing unit clusters represents an opportunity to “unlock significant value,” the analyst said. Citizens sees strong pricing trends with a continued supply/demand imbalance for the group. Citizens JMP also initiated coverage of Riot Platforms (RIOT) with a $25 price target, WhiteFiber (WYFI) with a $37 price target, Nebius (NBIS) with a $175 price target and Iren (IREN) with an $80 price target. The analyst has an Outperform rating on all the names.

CRYPTO EARNINGS: Bullish (BLSH) reported third quarter results on Wednesday, with earnings per share of 10c on revenue of $76.5M, which compared to analyst estimates of 10c and $71.14M, respectively. The company also guided to Q4 subscription, services and other revenue of $47M to $53M and adjusted operating expenses of $48M to $50M.

David Bonanno, CFO, said, “Bullish continues to win. After posting record SS&O revenue and record profitability in the third quarter, we are continuing to see strong momentum in the fourth quarter. Our recently launched options product has already surpassed $1B in trading volume and quarter-to-date spot trading volume is up 77% from Q3. We continue to expand our liquidity services ecosystem and feel confident that our diversified business model will deliver sustained, profitable growth.”

Following the report, Citi noted that Bullish topped both Citi and Street expectations and that its top-line outperformance flowed into an adjusted EBITDA beat. The firm, which sees execution momentum accelerating, maintains a Buy rating and $77 price target on Bullish shares.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank upgraded Bullish to Buy from Hold with a price target of $51, down from $52. After contracting over 50% from a peak in mid-August and with the shares now 5% below the August IPO price, the firm sees the stock “offering a more compelling risk/return profile” and it sees the company remaining on its planned growth trajectory consistent with its communication post the IPO process, the analyst said.

Clear Street recommended buying the post-earnings selloff in shares of Bullish. The shares sold off on weaker crypto prices and the Q4 revenue guidance, the analyst said. However, Clear views the results as “mis-characterized,” saying Bullish’s fundamentals have improved on market share gains in spot trading and continued blockchain adoption. It keeps a Buy rating on the shares with a $57 price target.

Additionally, JPMorgan lowered the firm’s price target on Bullish to $45 from $46 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. Q3 results were solid as liquidity services growth was strong and the transaction business is expected to improve in Q4, the analyst said. The firm added it lowered its price target on the shares to better account for interest income on stablecoins.

On Tuesday, Canaan (CAN) reported a Q3 loss per share of (5c) on revenue of $150.5M, which compared to analyst estimates of a loss per share of (1c) on revenue of $130.45M. The company’s cryptocurrency treasury expanded to 1,581.9 BTC and 2,830 ETH by the end of Q3 and further climbed to 1,610 BTC and 3,950 ETH by October-end. The company also guided to Q4 revenue of $175M to $205M.

Nangeng Zhang, CEO, said, “In the third quarter of 2025, we delivered a strong performance amid complex macro conditions and ongoing geopolitical friction. Our total revenue reached $150.5M, exceeding the high end of our guidance range, driven by record-breaking momentum in both mining machine sales and self-operated mining. We sold over 10 EH/s of computing power, marking a 55.6% sequential increase and setting a new quarterly high. Our Avalon Home product line also gained significant traction among retail and distributor channels, contributing more than 8% of total revenue for the quarter. Meanwhile, our installed mining fleet expanded to 9.3 EH/s by the end of the third quarter, supported by competitive power costs and rising efficiency, reinforcing our integrated strategy in mining operations.”

B. Riley lowered the firm’s price target on Canaan to $2.50 from $3 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Canaan delivered Q3 adjusted EBITDA ahead of expectations and secured its largest order in three years, over 50,000 A15 Pro miners from a U.S. customer, with deliveries running through 2025, the analyst said.

Additionally on Tuesday, IP Strategy (IPST) reported Q3 EPS of $16.97 on revenue of $2.99M, which compared to a loss per share of ($160.41) on revenue of $1.76M last year.

“With $196.3M in net income, the third quarter was a transformative period for IP Strategy. During the quarter we successfully completed our $223.8M PIPE offering focused on the $IP token, from which we acquired 53.2M $IP tokens, and then launched our industry-leading validator operations using those same tokens to increase net revenues by 69.9%, all while eliminating all secured debt and preparing our transition to becoming an asset light, high-margin enterprise,” said CEO Justin Stiefel.

IP Strategy also announced Tuesday that it has made an initial purchase of tokens issued by Aria Protocol, specifically, $ARIAIP, Aria’s native governance token, and $APL, the protocol’s royalty-bearing, yield-generating asset.

Also on Tuesday, KULR Technology Group (KULR) reported Q3 loss per share of (17c) on a revenue of $6.88M, which compared to a loss per share of (8c) on a revenue of $3.18M last year. As of September 30, the company had cash and current accounts receivable combined of $24.54M.

“KULR continues to accelerate growth and push forward our innovations,” said CEO Michael Mo. “With solid Q3 revenue gains and our unlevered Bitcoin holdings, we now have a more resilient balance sheet that allows us to confidently invest in next-generation KULR ONE battery products, deepen our R&D initiatives, and advance the next phase of our expansion.”

On Monday, Soluna Holdings (SLNH) reported Q3 loss per share of ($1.14) on revenue of $8.4M, which compared to a loss per share of ($1.56) on a revenue of $7.5M last year.

“This is a new Soluna,” said John Belizaire, CEO, “What we achieved in the third quarter reflects the exceptional execution of our small but mighty team. We’ve proven that our business model works and scales, strengthened our position as a leading Bitcoin hosting provider, and attracted new, world-class capital partners.”

On Friday, BitMine Immersion (BMNR) reported FY25 EPS of $13.39 on revenue of $6.1M, which compared to a loss per share of ($1.32) on a revenue of $3.3M for the same period last year. BitMine also declared an annual dividend of 1c per share.

“BitMine continues to execute at the highest level. The company is well positioned in 2026 and we look forward to commencing ETH staking with our MAVAN, or Made in America Validator Network, in early calendar 2026,” said Thomas Lee, Chairman. “Crypto prices continue to suffer as the drop in market liquidity and function since October 10, which was the largest ever single day liquidation event in the history of crypto. In 2022, the post-FTX liquidity shock took 8 weeks to clear, but similar to prior drawdowns, crypto prices quickly recovered. History shows crypto prices stage V-shaped recoveries after a lingering and drawn out decline, and we expect this to again be the case in this current drawdown.”

BitMine also announced Monday BitMine(ORBS) and unencumbered cash of $607M.

GOLDMAN SACHS LOWERS PRICE TARGETS: Goldman Sachs lowered the firm’s price target on Gemini (GEMI) to $19 from $22 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. Brokers and crypto stocks have dropped about 15% since mid-October despite higher forward estimates, as valuation multiples compressed sharply amid volatile equity and crypto markets, the analyst said. While near-term pressure is likely to persist until markets stabilize, the group’s long-term outlook remains supported by strong product innovation, large addressable markets, regulatory momentum, and continued inorganic growth, Goldman said. The analyst also lowered the firm’s price target on Galaxy Digital (GLXY) to $30 from $34, on Coinbase to $314 from $368 and on Circle Internet (CRCL) to $80 from $92. The firm kept a Neutral rating on all of the names.

OTHER CRYPTO NEWS: 

• Bit Digital (BTBT) price target lowered to $5 from $6 at Northland, to $6 from $7 at Clear Street
• Bitcoin Depot (BTM) partners with Wild Bill’s Tobacco, appoints Scott Buchanan as CEO
• BitFuFu (FUFU) price target lowered to $6 from $7 at B. Riley
• Fold Holdings (FLD) launches affiliate program
• Strategy (MSTR) acquires 8,178 bitcoin for $835.6M
• Hive Digital (HIVE) subsidiary (DELL)
• Hive Digital price target raised to $10 from $8 at H.C. Wainwright, lowered to $7 from $8 at B. Riley
• MasterCard (MA) partners with Mercuryo, Polygon Labs for Crypto Credential
• Hut 8 (HUT) sells (TAC)
• DDC Enterprise (DDC) to purchase 300 bitcoin
• Visa (V), MasterCard moving fast into stablecoins, The Information reports

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Mara Holdings (MARA), Strategy, Riot Platforms and TeraWulf (WULF). 

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped roughly 13% this week to $84,607 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.