French cold wallet giant Ledger reportedly halts its US IPO; lukewarm market sentiment may lead it to seek private financing.

With increasing volatility in the cryptocurrency market and growing uncertainty in the overall economy, the ambitions of digital asset companies to enter traditional capital markets are facing severe challenges.

According to the latest news from two sources familiar with the matter, Ledger, a globally renowned cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer headquartered in France, has officially suspended its initial public offering (IPO) plans in the United States due to "difficult market conditions."

The $4 billion IPO has been called off, and the company may turn to private equity fundraising.

Back in January, rumors circulated that Ledger had hired top investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays as advisors to prepare for a high-profile IPO in the US, with a valuation of up to $4 billion , and was expected to list as early as this year.

However, sources familiar with the matter revealed that Ledger has not yet submitted any draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is typically the first formal step in initiating an IPO process. Given the current situation, Ledger is reassessing its timeline for going public and may decide to raise working capital privately instead .

Currently, an official Ledger spokesperson has declined to comment on this news.

Crypto IPOs Cool Down: Kraken Postponed, BitGo Plummets Below IPO Price

Ledger's retreat is not an isolated case. After a wave of crypto company IPOs in 2025, Wall Street investors' appetite for crypto companies has shrunk significantly due to weak token prices, declining trading volumes, and sharp stock market fluctuations.

The harsh reality of the market can be glimpsed from the following two indicative cases:

• Kraken: As one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, Kraken, despite having secretly filed with the SEC at the end of 2025, suspended its multi-billion dollar IPO plans earlier this year.
• BitGo ($BTGO): As the "only" crypto-native company to successfully go public so far in 2026, BitGo raised approximately $213 million in its January IPO. Although its share price surged over 20% on its first day of trading, the honeymoon period was extremely short-lived. Currently, BitGo's share price has plummeted to approximately 36% below its IPO price , highlighting the extreme pessimism of secondary market investors towards crypto companies.

Undeterred by IPO setbacks, the company continues to invest heavily in the US institutional market.

Despite the temporary suspension of its IPO plans, Ledger has not stopped expanding its business segments, especially in the lucrative institutional services sector.

In March of this year, Ledger announced the appointment of John Andrews, former head of capital markets and investor relations at Circle, as its chief financial officer (CFO) and opened a new office in New York City as part of its multi-million dollar U.S. expansion plan. Ledger emphasized that the New York office will serve as a core hub for Ledger Enterprise (an institutional infrastructure platform) to meet the growing demand for digital asset infrastructure from banks, asset management companies, and stablecoin issuers.

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