Krakens Parent Firm to Acquire US Derivatives Exchange Bitnomial

Payward has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial for up to $550 million.

Payward, the parent company of U.S. centralized exchange Kraken, announced today, April 17, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated crypto derivatives exchange.

Bitnomial was founded in 2014 and over more than a decade of operations has acquired the full set of CFTC licenses — exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage — becoming what Kraken says is the first crypto company in the United States to do so.

The deal brings Bitnomial‘s regulatory infrastructure together with Payward’s global distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and its other projects.

In December 2025, Bitnomial had already received CFTC approval to clear fully-collateralized swaps, letting the CEX offer prediction markets, alongside its spot and derivatives offerings, under one regulatory framework and unified liquidity pool.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending CFTC notice filings and customary closing conditions, per Krakens announcement.

Payward is set to pay up to $550 million, payable in cash and stock, for Bitnomial. The transaction values Payward at $20 billion, per Kraken‘s blog post today, and comes just days after the CEX confirmed its plans to go public. The valuation matches Payward’s November 2025 announcement, when the firm raised $800 million in two rounds.

The move is the latest in a string of expansions and partnerships by Payward and Kraken. As The Defiant previously covered, Kraken acquired xStocks creator Backed Finance to deepen its tokenized equities push.

Also this week, Germany‘s largest stock exchange operator, Deutsche Börse, announced it had invested $200 million in Payward, for a roughly 1.5% fully diluted stake. That deal implied Payward’s valuation at $13.3 billion, a 33% haircut from the $20 billion valuation.