Payward to Acquire Bitnomial for Up to $550 Million

Payward Inc., the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, announced on Friday an agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a Chicago-based digital asset derivatives platform, in a transaction valued at up to $550 million in cash and stock. The deal, which values Payward at approximately $20 billion, is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other authorities.

Bitnomial holds the three key CFTC licenses required to operate a fully integrated derivatives business in the United States: a designated contract market for its exchange, a derivatives clearing organization for clearing services, and a futures commission merchant for brokerage operations. Founded more than a decade ago, Bitnomial became the first crypto-native platform to secure this full stack of approvals, starting with its initial CFTC licensing in 2020 and completing its derivatives clearing organization registration in late 2023. The platform launched its clearinghouse in early 2025, enabling physically delivered, margined crypto contracts, including its first cleared trade involving firms such as Jump Trading and Luxor Technology.