Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for up to $550 million in a cash-and-stock transaction that values the firm at $20 billion, the company said in a press release shared exclusively with CoinDesk.
Deal details: A decade-old platform with three licenses
Founded over a decade ago, Bitnomial is the first crypto-native platform to secure all three licenses required to operate a full-stack derivatives business in the U.S.: a designated contract market (DCM), a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) and a futures commission merchant (FCM) approval. The acquisition effectively shortcuts years of regulatory buildout for Payward as it expands its U.S. footprint.
“The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end,” said Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi, pointing to Bitnomial’s crypto-native settlement, collateral and 24/7 trading capabilities as core to the strategy.
IPO plans on hold
Kraken has been scaling up ahead of a planned IPO. Payward said it confidentially submitted a draft S-1 to the SEC on November 19 last year. However, CoinDesk reported last month that the firm put its IPO plans on hold due to difficult market conditions. Sources say the company is still considering an IPO, but likely not until market conditions improve.
M&A strategy: From pure crypto to multi-asset derivatives
Kraken's M&A strategy has been focused on expanding beyond pure crypto trading into multi-asset and derivatives infrastructure. The most significant deal was the $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader in 2025, a U.S.-based retail futures platform and CFTC-registered FCM – the largest-ever deal between traditional finance and crypto. Prior to that, Kraken executed smaller tuck-in acquisitions such as BCM in 2023 and Small Exchange, building out its derivatives and institutional capabilities. The overall trajectory signals a clear push to evolve into a broader, institutional-grade, multi-asset trading platform spanning crypto and traditional markets.
Derivatives rollout: Three products for U.S. clients
The combined platform will integrate Bitnomial’s regulated infrastructure with Payward’s global distribution and liquidity across brands including Kraken and NinjaTrader. Initial offerings are expected to include spot margin, perpetual futures and options for U.S. clients under CFTC oversight. Payward has also been building out its derivatives business globally – acquiring a U.K. crypto futures platform in 2019 and launching an EU offering in 2025. With Bitnomial, it now adds a fully regulated U.S. stack. The deal also expands Payward Services, the B2B infrastructure arm, enabling banks, fintechs and brokerages to access regulated U.S. derivatives through a single API.