Fortune placed Kraken at No. 3 on its inaugural Crypto 100 list on Thursday, classifying the exchange in the CeFi category alongside other crypto-native exchanges, lenders, and custodians.
The ranking draws on data analysis by Inca Digital and a survey of crypto experts, Fortune said, and evaluates companies across 10 categories.
Fortune’s profile of Kraken pointed to several milestones: the Wyoming special-purpose depository institution charter granted in 2020, the $1.5 billion acquisition of CFTC-regulated futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025, and a push into tokenized equities through its xStocks platform. The exchange averaged more than $2 billion in daily trading volume in Q1 2026, Fortune said.
“Rankings are lagging indicators. What’s more important is the financial infrastructure we pioneered and continue building,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward & Kraken.
Kraken said it serves millions of clients across more than 190 countries and offers futures, staking, institutional services, and access to hundreds of digital assets. The company was founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell, Thanh Luu, and Michael Gronager.
