.jpg){kind=avatar}
Kraken entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, the first fully CFTC-licensed derivatives company in the United States built for digital assets, for up to $550 million payable in cash and stock, in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion. Bitnomial is the first crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses required to operate a full-stack domestic crypto trading and derivatives business.
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.
