Hardware wallet maker pauses $4B US listing plans, leaving institutional custody ambitions in limbo. BitGo's 36% drop and Kraken's pause signal a narrowing window.
Ledger, the French hardware wallet maker, has paused its US initial public offering plans. Two people with knowledge of the matter confirmed the decision, citing difficult market conditions and weak institutional appetite for crypto-native listings. The company had explored a New York listing at a valuation of roughly $4 billion and has not filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the SEC – the formal first step toward a public debut in the United States.
Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays had been hired earlier this year to advise on the offering. A Ledger spokesperson declined to comment. One of the people familiar said the company may instead pursue a private capital raise. That route buys time without subjecting the firm to the immediate judgment of equity markets that have been punishing crypto stocks.
The pause places Ledger in a growing group of firms that had prepared for a post-2025 listing wave, only to find the window narrowing. Ledger’s IPO delay mirrors Kraken’s earlier move and points to a reset in crypto public-market ambitions.
BitGo, the only crypto-native firm to go public in 2026, raised $213 million in January at $18 per share after pricing above its marketed range. Those shares have since fallen roughly 36% from that level. The slide is a direct temperature check on how equity investors are valuing digital-asset businesses after the initial pop.
Kraken’s parent Payward also paused formal IPO preparations in March due to difficult market conditions. Kraken had confidentially filed with the SEC in late 2025. The pattern of delays signals that the appetite for new crypto listings has not been broad enough to absorb all the firms that had been prepping for public markets.
The calculus for public-offering candidates is now tougher. Weaker token prices, lower trading volumes, and volatile equity markets have made institutional investors more selective. A fourth-quarter recovery in digital-asset prices would be the simplest catalyst to reopen the window.
Goldman Sachs and Barclays were tapped for a marquee crypto advisory role that is now on hold. Both banks carry only moderate conviction in AlphaScala’s quant-based scoring. Goldman Sachs (GS) holds an Alpha Score of 56/100, while Barclays (BCS) registers 59/100. The lost fee mandate is not material to either bank’s overall investment-banking revenue; crypto advisory remains a tiny slice of the fee pool. It does, however, remove a high-visibility deal from the pipeline at a moment when both firms are competing for institutional digital-asset mandates.
A private capital raise, the alternative now under consideration, could dilute existing holders. It would also postpone the pricing discovery that a public listing forces. For Ledger, that trade-off appears acceptable given the alternative of launching into a market that punished BitGo.
Risk to watch: If Ledger cannot secure private funding on reasonable terms, its ability to fund the US expansion push could be constrained, even as demand for enterprise custody infrastructure grows.
The IPO hold does not equate to an operational retreat. In March, Ledger appointed former Circle executive John Andrews as CFO and opened a New York office intended to serve as the hub for Ledger Enterprise, its institutional infrastructure platform. The enterprise unit targets banks, asset managers, and stablecoin issuers that need digital-asset custody infrastructure.
CEO Pascal Gauthier had previously described a US listing or a private round in 2026 as two viable paths. The company has sold over seven million hardware wallets globally and holds an estimated $100 billion in client assets on its platform. Its hardware wallets secure private keys offline and are widely used by both retail and institutional investors. The enterprise custody layer adds a recurring revenue stream that is less tied to token price swings.
The path back to a public offering depends on three factors falling into place:
The setup would weaken sharply if:
For now, the Ledger IPO pause removes a $4 billion supply overhang from the crypto equity calendar. It also leaves the firm’s institutional custody ambitions on hold without closing the door permanently. The next concrete signal will be any private funding round and its pricing terms.
Drafted by the AlphaScala research model and grounded in primary market data – live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.