Kraken Acquires NinjaTrader, Expands into Traditional Derivatives Tether Reports $1 Billion Profit, $120 Billion in US Treasurys Strategy Misses Earnings, Reports $5.8 Billion Bitcoin Gain

Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has finalized its acquisition of NinjaTrader, a futures trading platform registered with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This acquisition is notable as it represents the largest merger between a cryptocurrency firm and a traditional finance company. The deal is expected to expand Kraken’s offerings to include traditional derivatives, aligning with its broader ambition to become a comprehensive one-stop trading platform. NinjaTrader, which recently began offering trading for over 11,000 stocks and ETFs to select US users, will now extend its services into the UK, Europe, and Australia. This strategic move comes as Kraken prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2026 and explores a debt package ranging from $200 million to $1 billion to support this transition.

In its first quarter financial report, Kraken revealed a 19% year-on-year increase in revenue, reaching $471.7 million. However, this figure represents a 6.8% decline from the previous quarter, attributed to a broader market slowdown triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, which led to an 18% decrease in total crypto market capitalization during the quarter. Despite this, Kraken reported a 1% rise in adjusted EBITDA to $187.4 million and a 10% increase in funded accounts, reaching 3.9 million. The company also underwent significant internal restructuring under co-CEO Arjun Sethi, who was appointed in October and has since laid off around 400 employees.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, reported over $1 billion in operating profit for the first quarter of 2025, with nearly $120 billion in exposure to US Treasurys. The company disclosed holding $98.5 billion in direct US Treasury bills and an additional $23 billion through repurchase agreements and other cash-equivalent instruments. These holdings underpin the company’s USDT stablecoin, which now has a market cap of close to $149 billion. Despite the strong financials, Tether’s excess reserves for USDT declined to $5.6 billion from $7.1 billion at the end of 2024. The company continues to leverage its surplus capital to fund strategic investments across sectors like renewable energy, artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer communications, and data infrastructure. During the first quarter, USDT’s circulating supply grew by approximately $7 billion, while the number of user wallets increased by 46 million, indicating strong demand for the stablecoin.

Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin-focused firm Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, reported a year-to-date yield of 13.7% on its Bitcoin holdings, translating to an unofficial gain of over 61,000 BTC worth approximately $5.8 billion. Despite this strong performance, Strategy missed earnings expectations for the first quarter, posting $111.1 million in revenue, down 3.6% from the same period last year and around 5% below analyst forecasts. The company reported a net loss of $4.2 billion, or $16.49 per diluted share, largely attributed to a $5.9 billion unrealized loss on its Bitcoin holdings, which caused total operating expenses to surge by close to 2,000% to $6 billion. To fund future Bitcoin acquisitions, Strategy announced plans to offer up to $21 billion in additional stock. The firm’s aggressive Bitcoin strategy continues, with over 550,000 BTC acquired since 2020 at an average price of $68,500 per coin, totaling nearly $38 billion in costs. On May 1, the value of its Bitcoin treasury grew to more than $53 billion.