Group 1 - Apollo Global Management, Oppenheimer, Jane Street, and HSG invested in Kraken's recent funding round, valuing the company at $15 billion [1] - Kraken closed a $500 million funding round, with participation from institutional players indicating a shift towards the digital asset sector [2] - Kraken is expected to confidentially file for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by year-end, aiming to go public in the first quarter of the next year [4] Group 2 - Kraken has been expanding aggressively, acquiring NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion and Small Exchange for $100 million, which supports the launch of a U.S.-based derivatives platform [5] - The growing institutional and corporate participation in crypto markets has contributed to the increase in major tokens' values, with Bitcoin rising over 20% this year and reaching a record high above $126,000 [6]