Payward, the financial infrastructure platform behind Kraken, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a US-based derivatives company licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The transaction, valued at up to $550 million in cash and stock, implies an equity valuation of $20 billion for Payward.
The acquisition integrates Bitnomial’s comprehensive CFTC-licensed infrastructure with Payward’s existing global client base and liquidity. Bitnomial is notable as the first crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three CFTC licenses required for a full-stack digital asset trading and derivatives business: a Designated Contract Market (DCM), Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), and Futures Commission Merchant (FCM).
Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated, “The US has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets. Bitnomial spent a decade building it: crypto settlement, crypto collateral, continuous 24/7 markets. 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 US clients under CFTC regulation.”Bitnomial’s founder and CEO, Luke Hoersten, emphasized the company’s commitment to digital-asset-native derivatives. “Bitnomial has been first on nearly every meaningful capability: the first-ever US perpetual futures, the first CFTC-regulated crypto margin collateral, native crypto settlement, and a unified book across spot, futures, options, and perpetuals,” Hoersten commented. He added that joining Payward allows them to scale these capabilities.
The integration of Bitnomial’s infrastructure into Payward Services, the company’s B2B platform, will enable partners such as fintechs, banks, brokerages, and payment providers to offer regulated US derivatives products to their end-users through a single API integration. This expands Payward Services’ existing offerings, which include crypto trading, tokenized equities, staking, and on/off-ramps.
This acquisition follows Payward’s strategy of establishing a regulated derivatives presence globally, building on its 2019 acquisition of a licensed crypto futures platform in the UK and the launch of a regulated EU derivatives offering in 2025. The company also continues to prioritize policy engagement, advocating for comprehensive market structure legislation in the US.
Payward intends to expand Bitnomial’s team and operations to further develop its US derivatives capabilities, leveraging Bitnomial’s decade-plus experience in building regulated crypto markets infrastructure.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is anticipated to close in the first half of 2026, with required CFTC notices to be filed. PJT Partners served as exclusive financial advisor, Haynes Boone as legal advisor, and Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP as regulatory advisor to Bitnomial. Jones Day acted as legal advisor and Morrison Foerster LLP as regulatory advisor to Payward.
