Payward closes Bitnomial deal, launches U.S. crypto derivatives

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced Friday that it has completed the acquisition of Bitnomial and now holds a full set of Commodity Futures Trading Commission permissions. The licenses include a Futures Commission Merchant, a Designated Contract Market and a Derivatives Clearing Organization. The company said those permissions allow it to offer CFTC-regulated spot margin, perpetuals and options to eligible U.S. clients on Kraken and the trading platform NinjaTrader.

Arjun Sethi, co‑CEO of Payward and Kraken, announced the company will begin by rolling out spot margin on Kraken, with perpetuals and options to follow. Payward described Bitnomial's licenses and its own infrastructure as the basis for the product rollout.

Bitnomial is a Chicago-based, crypto-native exchange that already held three CFTC licenses to operate a domestic digital asset derivatives business. The platform has listed new contracts early, including futures on Aptos. Under the acquisition, Bitnomial will continue to operate within Payward while retaining its existing licenses, regulatory framework and third-party relationships. Payward plans to expand Bitnomial's team as it builds out the U.S. derivatives business. The company did not disclose final deal terms.

When Payward first announced the purchase in April, it estimated the transaction could total up to $550 million in cash and stock and would value Payward's equity at about $20 billion. The company did not confirm those figures with the closing. Payward also disclosed a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse Group earlier this month.

Payward already operates regulated derivatives businesses outside the U.S., after buying a crypto futures platform in the U.K. in 2019 and launching regulated EU derivatives last year. The company confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November. Payward did not provide a timeline for the product rollouts or for any public listing.

Spot margin lets traders borrow funds to increase the size of a position in the spot market. Perpetual contracts are futures without a fixed expiration date that use periodic funding payments to track spot prices. Options give buyers the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a set price before a specified date.

In a statement, Payward wrote, “This is the foundation that enables Payward to bring CFTC-regulated spot margin, perpetuals and options to eligible U.S. clients on Kraken and NinjaTrader.” Arjun Sethi added, “That stack is what makes the next set of products possible.”