Kraken to buy derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550m in latest acquisition

Kraken’s parent company, Payward, will buy derivatives exchange Bitnomial for over half a billion dollars in the American crypto exchange’s latest acquisition.

The Cheyenne, Wyoming-based company said Friday that it was buying Bitnomial for up to $550 million payable in cash and stock in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion.

Kraken said the deal would help it update its infrastructure so it can offer round-the-clock trading of other assets.

Kraken is pushing into the traditional finance world, allowing users to trade stocks, bonds, and other assets. It is even selling one of its products, the Krak mobile money app, as a “primary account for everything.”

“The US has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets,” Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said.

“Bitnomial spent a decade building it: crypto settlement, crypto collateral, continuous 24/7 markets. These are capabilities that cannot be retrofitted onto legacy systems.”

Kraken will add Buitnomial’s spot margin, perpetuals, and options services for US clients, Sethi said.

“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,” Luke Hoersten, fFounder and CEO of Bitnomial, said.

He added: “Joining Payward means we can now build that future at the scale it deserves.”

Kraken is fast making acquisitions as part of its growth strategy. In 2025, the company made five acquisitions.

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi told DL News in September that the crypto exchange had more deals lined up.

The company’s portfolio now includes futures trading platform NinjaTrade, which it bought for $1.5 billion, proprietary trading form Breakout, tokenised assets platform Backed Finance, and token management platform Magna.

Kraken this week confirmed that  it had confidentially filed for a US initial public offering. It previously filed a draft statement of the Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission in November.

The crypto exchange was initially expected to go public in the first quarter of the year, but froze the plans on hold due to the lacklustre market conditions, according to reports.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.