- Kraken acquires Breakout, granting traders up to $200K in capital after evaluation.
- Breakout lets traders keep 90% of profits, rewarding skill and discipline over wealth.
- The deal follows Kraken’s $1.5B NinjaTrader buy, expanding its professional trading tools.
Kraken has entered the proprietary trading space by purchasing Breakout, a Tampa startup that supplies traders with firm-backed capital to expand their market opportunities. The deal highlights Kraken’s plan to extend its trading infrastructure. Breakout offers up to $200,000 in capital to traders after a strict evaluation process. The model tests risk control and strategy discipline before granting access.
Breakout lets traders retain up to 90% of the profits they generate, placing value on skill rather than personal capital. Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the deal supports building frameworks that reward demonstrated performance. He noted that Breakout provides a way to distribute capital based on results instead of financial background.
Kraken Pro Expansion and IPO Plans Follow Strategic Acquisitions
This integration expands Kraken Pro’s range of professional-grade tools. The deal comes after Kraken’s $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader in May 2025. That purchase expanded its presence in futures markets and added advanced trading software to its platform. Both acquisitions mark a drive to build a stronger trading infrastructure for institutional and retail users.
The acquisition comes at a convenient political time, with Trump being pro-crypto, and the political environment having softened against regulatory pressures. In March, the SEC dropped its case against Kraken, which was settled without an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, a penalty, or any changes to its operations.
Based on reports, Kraken is also planning its IPO in 2026 and is likely to be listed in the first half of the year. Although the exchange did not specify a date, it confirmed its intention to become more transparent.
Kraken Acquisition Marks Key Milestone for Breakout Founders
For Breakout’s founders, the Kraken acquisition is a milestone. Trader CryptoCred shared on X that the project started in a Telegram chat group only two years ago. He admitted fearing failure because of negative reactions on Twitter. Instead of debating online, he chose to work quietly while building the platform.
“I thought we were gonna flop,” he posted on X. “So I just decided to work and not tweet about it despite Breakout taking up most of my waking hours. And here we are.” Other traders, including TraderMayne, Miningham, and Abetrade, echoed those sentiments. They emphasized the surprise at Breakout’s rapid growth.
Related: Kraken and SEC’s Meeting Signals Major Shift for Tokenized Assets
Cryptocurrency exchanges are witnessing a boom in acquisitions. In May, Coinbase acquired a $2.9 billion company, a large derivatives exchange called Deribit. This acquisition provided Coinbase with an impressive footing in derivatives trading. Crypto.Com acquired A.N. Allnew Investments Ltd. the same month, which allowed it to obtain a MiFID license in Europe.
On Tuesday, Coincheck signed an agreement to acquire Aplo, a regulated Paris-based brokerage. The transaction will open up European institutional markets to Coincheck. All acquisitions demonstrate a pattern of transactions that combine conventional finance products with digital asset infrastructure. The move of Kraken is part of this greater industry trend.
Kraken now positions itself against both global exchanges and established prop trading firms. By combining evaluation-based capital allocation with crypto infrastructure, the company hopes to create an edge. The strategy reflects a broader shift in the sector. Skill-based access to capital may define the next stage of trading innovation.
