Kraken Parent Payward to Buy Bitnomial in $550M U.S. Derivatives Push

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has agreed to acquire Bitnomial in a deal worth up to $550 million in cash and stock, giving the exchange group a fully CFTC-licensed foundation for U.S. crypto derivatives. Kraken announced the move on X, saying spot margin, perpetuals, and options are coming to the platform under CFTC regulation.

The company said Bitnomial is the first fully CFTC-licensed derivatives firm in the United States built specifically for digital assets. Payward added that the transaction values its own equity at $20 billion and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to customary conditions and required CFTC notices.

Kraken Gains a Full U.S. Derivatives Stack

The core value of the deal lies in Bitnomial’s regulatory structure. Payward said Bitnomial is the first crypto-native U.S. company to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses needed to run a full domestic derivatives business, exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage.

Payward said Bitnomial spent more than a decade building the infrastructure required to support crypto settlement, crypto collateral, and around-the-clock market design under U.S. regulation.

Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure rather than its front end. He said Bitnomial built the regulated base needed to support spot margin, perpetuals, and options for U.S. clients in a way that legacy systems cannot simply retrofit.

Bitnomial Expands Kraken’s U.S. Product Roadmap

The acquisition gives Kraken a direct route into a broader U.S. derivatives offering. Payward said the combined platform will support a regulated suite of products that includes spot margin, perpetual contracts, and options.

Bitnomial founder and CEO Luke Hoersten said the company built its exchange and clearinghouse from the ground up for crypto and was first on several key capabilities, including U.S. perpetual futures, CFTC-regulated crypto margin collateral, native crypto settlement, and a unified book across spot and derivatives.

Payward Opens a New Channel For Institutions

Through Payward Services, the company said it will also offer partners a way to plug into regulated U.S. derivatives through a single API. That includes fintechs, banks, brokerages, and payment firms.

Payward said those partners will gain access not only to crypto trading infrastructure but also to tokenized equities, staking, fiat on- and off-ramps, and now regulated U.S. derivatives. The company described the acquisition as another step in building a vertically integrated and comprehensively regulated derivatives platform.

The move also fills a strategic gap. Payward said it has already established regulated derivatives operations in the UK and the EU. Bitnomial now gives it a comparable footprint in the U.S., where comprehensive market structure legislation remains one of the company’s top policy priorities.

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