Payward to Acquire Bitnomial for up to $550M

Payward, Kraken’s parent company, agreed to acquire derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock. The deal gives Payward control of a fully licensed U.S. crypto derivatives stack.

Bitnomial is described as the first crypto-native platform to secure all three U.S. licenses needed for a full-stack derivatives business: a brokerage, a clearinghouse, and an exchange. The acquisition is positioned to accelerate Payward’s U.S. derivatives expansion across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and B2B infrastructure.