We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, the first U.S. derivatives company fully licensed by the CFTC and designed for digital assets, for up to $550 million payable in cash and stock, in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion.
Bitnomial is the first crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses necessary to operate a comprehensive domestic crypto and derivatives trading business. The combination brings together Bitnomial’s fully CFTC-licensed infrastructure with our global customer base, significant liquidity and distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader and its broader product family.
This acquisition gives us access to a regulated foundation which takes years to build. Bitnomial has spent more than a decade securing the entire US derivatives license stack – exchange, clearinghouse and brokerage – becoming the first company in the US to have assembled this stack with digital assets in mind.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken: “The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end. Settlement mechanisms, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them. The United States does not have a clearing infrastructure built for digital assets.”
“Bitnomial spent a decade building it: crypto settlement, crypto collateral, 24/7 continuous markets. These are capabilities that cannot be upgraded on existing systems. They must be built natively. This is the regulated foundation we are adding to Payward, starting with spot margin, perpetuals and options for US customers under CFTC regulation.
Luke Hoersten, founder and CEO of Bitnomial: “Bitnomial was built on a simple belief: that the future of derivatives is native to digital assets and that the United States should lead it, not follow it. That’s why we built our exchange and clearinghouse from the ground up for crypto – and that’s why Bitnomial was first on almost every significant capability: the first-ever U.S. perpetual futures contracts, the first CFTC-regulated crypto margin guarantee, native crypto settlement, and a unified ledger at cash, futures, options and perpetuals.
“These are things that existing scaled infrastructure simply cannot modernize. That same foundation is what makes the next generation of derivatives possible: cryptocurrency-settled products, tokenized assets, and ultimately the kind of seamless, capital-efficient contracts that have transformed global markets. Joining Payward means we can now build that future at the scale it deserves.”
Through Payward Services, our 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.
Payward Services allows partners to access a broad range of financial infrastructure capabilities through a single set of APIs, including cryptocurrency trading, tokenized stocks, staking, on- and off-ramps, and now-regulated US derivatives.
With the acquisition of Bitnomial, we now have a regulated derivatives offering across all of our major markets. This acquisition builds on our years of experience in establishing a global presence in the regulated derivatives space. We acquired the first licensed crypto futures platform in the UK in 2019 and launched a regulated derivatives offering in the EU in 2025.
We continue to lead policy engagement to establish regulatory clarity and drive innovation around the world for all of our products and services. Enacting comprehensive market structure legislation in the United States remains one of our top policy priorities.
We plan to scale the Bitnomial team and operations as we expand our derivatives capabilities in the United States, building on the expertise Bitnomial has developed over more than a decade building and operating regulated crypto markets infrastructure.
Transaction details
Under the terms of the deal, which values Payward’s equity at $20 billion, Payward will acquire 100% of Bitnomial’s outstanding equity for up to $550 million payable in cash and stock.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Required CFTC notices will be filed in connection with the closing.
Advisors
PJT Partners served as exclusive financial advisor, Haynes Boone served as legal advisor, and Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP served as regulatory advisor to Bitnomial. Jones Day served as legal advisor and Morrison Foerster LLP served as regulatory advisor to Payward.
