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Payward to acquire Bitnomial
17 April 2026 US
Image: Nuthawut/stock.adobe.com
Payward has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, the first fully CFTC-licensed derivatives company in the US built for digital assets, for up to US$550 million payable in cash and stock, in a transaction that values Payward's equity at US$20 billion.
According to the firms, Bitnomial is the first crypto-native exchange in the US to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses required to operate a full-stack domestic crypto trading and derivatives business.
The combination brings together Bitnomial's fully CFTC-licensed infrastructure with Payward's global client base, deep liquidity, and distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and its broader product family.
This acquisition gives Payward access to a regulated foundation that takes years to build, with Bitnomial spending over a decade securing the full set of US derivatives licenses — exchange, clearing house, and brokerage — becoming the first company in the US to have assembled this stack with digital assets in mind.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, states: “The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end.
“Settlement mechanics, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them.
“The US has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets. 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.”
Through Payward Services, the company's B2B infrastructure platform, the acquisition also opens a new channel for partners, including fintechs, banks, brokerages, and payment providers, to offer regulated US derivatives products to their own end users through a single integration.
Payward Services gives partners access to a broad range of financial infrastructure capabilities through a single set of APIs, including crypto trading, tokenised equities, staking, on/off-ramps, and now regulated US derivatives.
With the acquisition of Bitnomial, Payward now offers a regulated derivatives offering across all of its major markets.
The acquisition builds on Payward's multi-year track record of establishing regulated derivatives presence globally. Payward acquired the first licensed crypto futures platform in the UK in 2019 and launched a regulated EU derivatives offering in 2025.
Payward continues to lead policy engagement to establish regulatory clarity and drive innovation around the world for all of our products and services. Passage of comprehensive market structure legislation in the US remains one of its top policy priorities.
Payward plans to scale Bitnomial's team and operations as it builds out its US derivatives capabilities, drawing on the expertise Bitnomial has developed over more than a decade of building and operating regulated crypto markets infrastructure.
Luke Hoersten, founder and CEO of Bitnomial, comments: “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.
“That is why we built our exchange and clearing house from the ground up for crypto — and it's why Bitnomial has been first on nearly every meaningful capability: the first-ever US perpetual futures, the first CFTC-regulated crypto margin collateral, native crypto settlement, and a unified book across spot, futures, options, and perpetuals.
“These are things adapted legacy infrastructure simply can't retrofit. That same foundation is what makes the next generation of derivatives possible: crypto-settled products, tokenised assets, and eventually the kind of continuous, capital-efficient contracts that have transformed global markets.
“Joining Payward means we can now build that future at the scale it deserves.”
According to the firms, Bitnomial is the first crypto-native exchange in the US to hold all three CFTC-issued licenses required to operate a full-stack domestic crypto trading and derivatives business.
The combination brings together Bitnomial's fully CFTC-licensed infrastructure with Payward's global client base, deep liquidity, and distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and its broader product family.
This acquisition gives Payward access to a regulated foundation that takes years to build, with Bitnomial spending over a decade securing the full set of US derivatives licenses — exchange, clearing house, and brokerage — becoming the first company in the US to have assembled this stack with digital assets in mind.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, states: “The shape of a market is determined by its clearing infrastructure, not its front end.
“Settlement mechanics, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them.
“The US has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets. 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.”
Through Payward Services, the company's B2B infrastructure platform, the acquisition also opens a new channel for partners, including fintechs, banks, brokerages, and payment providers, to offer regulated US derivatives products to their own end users through a single integration.
Payward Services gives partners access to a broad range of financial infrastructure capabilities through a single set of APIs, including crypto trading, tokenised equities, staking, on/off-ramps, and now regulated US derivatives.
With the acquisition of Bitnomial, Payward now offers a regulated derivatives offering across all of its major markets.
The acquisition builds on Payward's multi-year track record of establishing regulated derivatives presence globally. Payward acquired the first licensed crypto futures platform in the UK in 2019 and launched a regulated EU derivatives offering in 2025.
Payward continues to lead policy engagement to establish regulatory clarity and drive innovation around the world for all of our products and services. Passage of comprehensive market structure legislation in the US remains one of its top policy priorities.
Payward plans to scale Bitnomial's team and operations as it builds out its US derivatives capabilities, drawing on the expertise Bitnomial has developed over more than a decade of building and operating regulated crypto markets infrastructure.
Luke Hoersten, founder and CEO of Bitnomial, comments: “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.
“That is why we built our exchange and clearing house from the ground up for crypto — and it's why Bitnomial has been first on nearly every meaningful capability: the first-ever US perpetual futures, the first CFTC-regulated crypto margin collateral, native crypto settlement, and a unified book across spot, futures, options, and perpetuals.
“These are things adapted legacy infrastructure simply can't retrofit. That same foundation is what makes the next generation of derivatives possible: crypto-settled products, tokenised assets, and eventually the kind of continuous, capital-efficient contracts that have transformed global markets.
“Joining Payward means we can now build that future at the scale it deserves.”
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