Payward, the parent company of Kraken and operator of NinjaTrader, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, the first company in the US to hold all three CFTC-issued licences required to operate a full-stack domestic crypto trading and derivatives business.
The transaction values Bitnomial at up to USD 550 million payable in cash and stock, and implies a Payward equity valuation of USD 20 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and required CFTC filings.
Bitnomial holds licences as an exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage, a combination the company spent more than a decade assembling. It is described as the first crypto-native exchange in the US to hold this full set of CFTC licences, and the first to deliver US perpetual futures, CFTC-regulated crypto margin collateral, native crypto settlement, and a unified order book across spot, futures, options, and perpetuals.
Strategic rationale and B2B infrastructure access
The acquisition gives Payward access to regulated US derivatives infrastructure that it describes as impossible to retrofit onto legacy systems, providing the foundation for spot margin, perpetuals, and options for US clients under CFTC regulation. Payward previously acquired the first licensed crypto futures platform in the UK in 2019 and launched a regulated EU derivatives offering in 2025, making Bitnomial the final component of a regulated derivatives presence across its major markets.
Through Payward Services, the company's B2B infrastructure platform, the Bitnomial acquisition creates a new channel for banks, fintechs, brokerages, and payment providers to offer regulated US derivatives products to their end users through a single API integration. Payward Services already provides crypto trading, tokenised equities, staking, and on/off-ramp access.
Talking about the move, Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, mentioned that the shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, and that Bitnomial's native crypto settlement and margin capabilities cannot be retrofitted onto legacy systems.
