Ledger has put its Ledger IPO plans on hold, citing difficult market conditions and weak investor appetite for crypto listings.
Summary
- The French hardware wallet maker had hired Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays to advise on a potential US listing valued at around $4 billion.
- Ledger has not filed a draft S-1 with the SEC and may pursue a private capital raise instead, according to people familiar with the matter.
- The pause follows Kraken’s IPO delay and comes as BitGo, the only crypto-native company to list in 2026, trades 36% below its January IPO price.
Ledger, the French crypto hardware wallet maker, has paused its plans for a US initial public offering, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
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 standard first formal step toward a US listing.
Ledger had hired Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays earlier this year to advise on the offering. A Ledger spokesperson declined to comment. The company may instead pursue a private capital raise, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
What is driving the pause
The decision reflects a broader cooling in investor appetite for crypto-native US listings. Weaker token prices, lower trading volumes, and volatile equity markets have made institutional investors more selective.
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 price.
Kraken’s parent Payward also paused formal IPO preparations in March due to difficult market conditions, despite having confidentially filed with the SEC in late 2025.
The pattern of delays signals that the post-2025 crypto listing wave has not been strong enough to absorb all the firms that had prepared for public markets.
Despite the Ledger IPO hold, the company has been actively expanding in the US. In March, Ledger appointed former Circle executive John Andrews as CFO and opened a New York office to serve as a hub for Ledger Enterprise, its institutional infrastructure platform targeting banks, asset managers, and stablecoin issuers. CEO Pascal Gauthier had previously described a US listing or private round in 2026 as two viable paths for the company.
What Ledger is and why it matters institutionally
Ledger 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.
Ledger Enterprise, the newer revenue layer, targets large financial institutions that need digital asset custody infrastructure.
The firm was last valued at $1.5 billion in a 2023 funding round. Demand for secure crypto storage has grown sharply since 2025, as on-chain attacks and exchange vulnerabilities pushed users and institutions toward cold storage solutions. The Ledger IPO pause leaves its institutional ambitions on hold for now without closing the door permanently.
