Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, completed its acquisition of Bitnomial on 4 May, expanding its offerings in the US derivatives market.
Kraken Parent Completes Bitnomial Buy to Expand Derivatives Offerings in US
4 May 2026 - 22:15 CEST
By Jona Jaupi
Bitnomial is a platform that offers products like spot margin, futures, options and prediction markets in a single system. It is also the first fully Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-licensed crypto-focused derivatives company in the US.
Payward is paying up to $550mn in cash and stock for Bitnomial, with the transaction valuing Payward's total outstanding equity at about $20bn, according to Kraken's blog.
The deal gives Payward control of a full set of licences from the CFTC – including a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), according to a press release.
Together, these allow Payward to offer trading, brokerage and clearing services under one regulated system. That means the company can offer crypto derivatives to US users under regulatory oversight.
To date, much of crypto derivatives trading has taken place outside the US due to stricter rules.
"Closing this deal brings a regulated US derivatives stack to Payward, its client and partners. A broker, exchange, clearinghouse purpose-built for digital assets, not adapted to them," said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken. "That stack is what makes the next set of products possible."
How it will work
Payward said it will begin by offering spot margin trading on Kraken, with plans to add perpetual futures and options later.
CoinMarketCap currently ranks Kraken as the 10th top cryptocurrency derivatives exchange based on its algorithm, which looks at multiple factors like liquidity and volume.
The company also plans to offer derivatives through its B2B unit, allowing platforms like banks and brokerages to offer these products to their customers.
Crypto derivatives market
The move comes as the crypto derivatives market continues its recent rebound, with both centralized and decentralized exchanges seeing increased activity.
The crypto derivatives market processed nearly $86tn in total volume in 2025, with daily trading averaging around $265bn, according to CoinGlass.
In the past 24 hours, centralized exchanges accounted for about 98% of derivatives volume, or roughly $266bn, while decentralized platforms made up just over 2%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Open interest (OI) also remains high across the sector, with perpetual contracts alone totalling more than $470bn.
Sticky business
The deal also comes as Payward escalates a legal dispute over custody.
Earlier today, a US court granted Payward’s request to file a second amended complaint in its case against Etana Custody, a crypto-focused regulated trust company.
Payward has alleged more than $25mn in client funds were misused, describing it as a "Ponzi-like" scheme.
The case has been ongoing for months, with Payward filing a status report in April. However, proceedings remain partly paused as Etana is currently in liquidation.
