Ledger Pauses Planned IPO to Avoid Crypto Market Slump

Ledger, a French company that makes hardware designed to securely store cryptocurrency, has paused its plans for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) due to an unfavorable market for crypto IPOs, CoinDesk reported Wednesday (May 13), citing unnamed sources.

The company had considered a $4 billion U.S. listing and had hired investment banks to advise it on the potential IPO, according to the report.

Ledger could decide to raise capital privately, per the report.

Reached by PYMNTS, Ledger declined to comment on the report.

The Financial Times reported in January that Ledger was working with bankers on a U.S. IPO and could launch it was soon as this year, though the plans could change. The report, which cited unnamed sources, said Ledger was valued at $1.5 billion in 2023 and could be valued at over $4 billion in an IPO.

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier told the FT in November that he was considering a U.S. listing, saying that “money is in New York today for crypto,” according to the report.

The company’s hardware wallets enable crypto owners to store their private keys offline, where they are not susceptible to online attacks, according to its website. Because the wallets are non-custodial, they also enable owners to fully control their crypto.

When Ledger announced its Series C extension funding round in March 2023, which reportedly valued it at about $1.4 billion, Gauthier said the company would use the funding to bring its devices to more of the hundreds of millions of users of digital assets and blockchain-enabled technology. The company was also valued at $1.4 billion in a June 2021 funding round.

It was reported in March that cryptocurrency exchange Kraken paused its IPO plans until market conditions improve. Kraken’s decision came four months after the company confidentially filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and announced an $800 million funding round that valued it at $20 billion.

At the time of the March report, the downturn in crypto markets that began in October continued, making companies more cautious about going public, and crypto company BitGo had seen its stock price drop 44% since going public earlier in 2026.