Kraken exchange news: Nakamoto owes $165M, more than its market value

$165 million owed. $104 million market value. Nakamoto, the Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury firm led by David Bailey, has a debt to crypto exchange Kraken that now tops what the stock market says the entire firm is worth. On November 11 the firm pushed a $60 million repayment from December 4, 2026 to December 4, 2027, and disclosed the change in an 8-K filing the next day, per CoinDesk.

The facility dates to December 2025, when Kraken lent $210 million at 8% a year against a treasury of almost 5,400 coins, per CoinDesk. The firm was put together in a May 2025 reverse merger, per CryptoNews, and pairs its bitcoin holdings with media, asset management and advisory work. It has been shrinking the pile ever since. Early in 2026 the firm sold about 40 coins and collected a premium of about 43 coins from derivatives strategies, per The Currency Analytics. In March it sold 284 coins for about $20 million, at an average near $70,422 each, for working capital, per The Currency Analytics. June brought the larger cut: about 600 coins sold for 35.6 million USDT, and with derivatives proceeds the sales raised about $48 million, of which $45 million went back to Kraken, per The Currency Analytics. That payment brought the loan to $165 million. In the third quarter it sold 184 more coins for about $13.2 million, leaving 4,283 coins at September 30, per The Currency Analytics.

The extension buys time. The debt stays exactly where it is, and the calendar now points at 2027.

The loan, by the numbers

The new terms also widen the collateral rules. Kraken will now measure the firm's bitcoin derivatives holdings in a pledged trading account when it runs its collateral tests, with the value set daily and any negative figure treated as zero, per CoinDesk. The positions include puts covering 2,000 bitcoin, struck at $55,000 and expiring December 25, plus sold calls over 2,150 bitcoin with strikes spread from $80,000 to $110,000, per CoinDesk. At quarter-end the derivatives book carried a negative $6 million value, which the new rules treat as zero. Nakamoto chief investment officer Tyler Evans said the change gives the firm more time and a stronger collateral position, per CoinDesk. The puts run out before either repayment date arrives, so the hedge lapses while the bill is still outstanding.

How thin the cushion is

At September 30, 3,030 of the firm's 4,283 coins were pledged to Kraken, worth about $253 million when bitcoin traded near $83,500, per CoinDesk. With bitcoin under $69,000 on Friday, that same stack came to roughly $208 million, or about 126% of the amount owed, per CoinDesk's calculations. Since September 30 the pledged stack has lost about $45 million, close to 18% of its value. Bitcoin traded at $68,203 in MarketRadar's live snapshot at 01:05 UTC on November 14, down 3.73% on the day, putting the pledged coins at about $206.7 million.

MarketRadar calculations from the September 30 filing figures: 3,030 coins pledged against $165 million owed. The breakeven sits at $54,455 a coin. Below that level the pledged coins no longer cover the loan, and a shortfall leaves Nakamoto repaying part of it or pledging more coins, per CoinDesk. Nakamoto still holds 1,253 unpledged coins, worth about $86 million at the current price, per CoinDesk, which is the reserve it can post first.

Why it matters

Kraken is the lender here, not a bystander. The exchange sets the collateral tests and runs them daily. That puts one of the five largest crypto exchanges at the center of a treasury-company credit story, a day after the DOJ won court authority to seize $1.2 billion from a Binance hack showed how fast exchange-linked risk travels. The timing adds pressure: bitcoin has fallen below $70,000, per MarketRadar's November 13 top-10 coins roundup, and every further drop thins the cushion behind a $165 million loan. Treasury firms that borrowed against their coins now face the same test Nakamoto just postponed: sell coins into a falling market, post more collateral, or renegotiate. Kraken has shown both sides of its book this month: it restricted accounts suspected in a 133 million euro theft last week, and it has now reworked terms with a borrower rather than force a sale.

What to watch

• June 30, 2027: the $105 million tranche falls due, the first real test of the new schedule.
• December 25: the $55,000 puts expire, removing the hedge months before either tranche matures.
• Bitcoin at $54,455: the breakeven where pledged coins stop covering the loan.
• NAKA shares against the $104 million market value, and any further coin sales by the firm.
• Whether other treasury borrowers seek the same treatment from their lenders.

Key points

• Nakamoto owes Kraken $165 million in USDT; the market values the whole firm at about $104 million, with shares at $5.79 on Thursday.
• A $60 million tranche moves from December 4, 2026 to December 4, 2027; $105 million stays due June 30, 2027; nothing falls due in 2026.
• The firm sold 184 bitcoin in the third quarter for about $13.2 million, leaving 4,283 coins at September 30.
• Of those, 3,030 coins are pledged to Kraken, worth about $208 million at bitcoin under $69,000, about 126% of the loan.
• Kraken now counts bitcoin derivatives toward collateral tests; the protective puts expire December 25, before the debt falls due.

MarketRadar take

The amendment is a pause, not a repair. Nakamoto traded a December deadline for a crowded 2027, with $105 million due in June and $60 million in December, and the cushion behind it all is 3,030 coins whose value falls with every bitcoin dip. The $25 million buyback the firm authorized in June competes with those repayments for the same cash, per CryptoNews. For Kraken, the deal keeps a borrower paying and a loan covered at 125%. The number that decides it is $54,455: hold above it and the loan stays covered; break it and the exchange starts calling for more coins.