Payward and Bitnomial intend to create a vertically integrated U.S. derivatives platform and infrastructure.
Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, is acquiring Bitnomial, a derivatives company for digital assets, “for up to $550 million payable in cash and stock, in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion,” officials say.
As a result of the acquisition, Payward will get access to “a set of U.S. derivatives licenses for the exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage, marking Bitnomial as the first company in the United States “to have assembled this stack with digital assets in mind,” officials say.
“The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end. Settlement mechanics, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them. The U.S. has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets. Bitnomial spent a decade building it: crypto settlement, crypto collateral, continuous 24/7 markets,” says Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, in a prepared statement. “These are capabilities that cannot be retrofitted onto legacy systems. They have to be built natively. That is the regulated foundation we are adding to Payward, starting with spot margin, perpetuals, and options for U.S. clients under CFTC regulation.”
The CFTC-licensed Bitnomial is the “first crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses required to operate a full-stack domestic crypto trading and derivatives business,” officials say. The combination brings together Bitnomial’s infrastructure with Payward’s client base, liquidity, and distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and its broader product family.
“Through Payward Services, the Company’s B2B infrastructure platform, the acquisition also opens a new channel for partners, including fintechs, banks, brokerages, and payment providers, to offer regulated US derivatives products to their own end users through a single integration,” officials say. “Payward plans to scale Bitnomial’s team and operations as it builds out its US derivatives capabilities, drawing on the expertise Bitnomial has developed over more than a decade of building and operating regulated crypto markets infrastructure.”
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