Payward buys Bitnomial for USD $550 million in cash

Payward has agreed to acquire Bitnomial in a deal valued at up to USD $550 million in cash and stock.

The transaction gives Payward a US crypto derivatives business with exchange, clearinghouse and brokerage licences from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The agreement values Payward's equity at USD $20 billion.

Chicago-based Bitnomial operates a regulated derivatives market infrastructure for digital assets in the US. It describes itself as the first crypto-native exchange in the country to hold all three CFTC licences needed to run a full domestic crypto trading and derivatives business.

For Payward, the acquisition provides a regulated entry into US derivatives at a time when crypto groups have faced a long and costly process to secure licences and launch products in the market. Bitnomial has spent more than a decade building its regulatory structure.

The deal will combine Bitnomial's regulated infrastructure with Payward's international customer reach and product distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader and other brands. It will also extend Payward's business-to-business platform for financial firms that want to offer regulated US derivatives to their own customers through a single technical connection.

That channel sits within Payward Services, the group's infrastructure arm for partners including fintech companies, banks, brokerages and payment providers. The platform already covers crypto trading, tokenised equities, staking, and fiat on- and off-ramps.

US derivatives

The acquisition also expands Payward's regulated derivatives footprint across its main markets. It bought a licensed crypto futures platform in the UK in 2019 and launched a regulated derivatives offering in the European Union in 2025.

Bitnomial's licences cover a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organisation and a futures commission merchant. Together, they allow a business to operate an exchange, clear trades, and handle brokerage functions within US derivatives markets.

Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, outlined the rationale for the deal in a statement focused on market structure and clearing.

"The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end. Settlement mechanics, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them. 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," Sethi said.

Bitnomial has built its business around crypto-settled and crypto-collateralised products, including perpetual futures and options. Its exchange and clearinghouse were designed specifically for digital assets rather than adapted from older systems built for other asset classes.

Luke Hoersten, Founder and Chief Executive of Bitnomial, said the company had focused from the outset on building market infrastructure for digital-asset derivatives in the US.

"Bitnomial was built on a simple conviction: that the future of derivatives is digital-asset-native, and that the US should lead it, not follow it. That's why we built our exchange and clearinghouse from the ground up for crypto - and it's why 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. These are things adapted legacy infrastructure simply can't retrofit. That same foundation is what makes the next generation of derivatives possible: crypto-settled products, tokenised assets, and eventually the kind of continuous, capital-efficient contracts that have transformed global markets. Joining Payward means we can now build that future at the scale it deserves," Hoersten said.

Deal terms

Under the agreement, Payward will acquire all of Bitnomial's outstanding equity. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, and the companies will file the required notices with the CFTC upon completion.

Payward plans to expand Bitnomial's team and operations as it builds out its US derivatives business, drawing on more than a decade of experience in developing and operating regulated crypto market infrastructure.

The deal highlights how regulatory permissions remain a central competitive factor in digital asset markets, particularly in the US, where companies have sought clearer rules for trading, clearing and settlement. Bitnomial's licence stack gives Payward direct control of a regulated segment of that market through exchange, clearing and brokerage operations in a single business.

Bitnomial offers leveraged spot markets, perpetuals, futures, options, and prediction markets through what it describes as a unified exchange and clearinghouse, with digital-asset margin and settlement.