Kraken's Parent Company Acquires Bitnomial for $550 Million

Kraken's parent company Payward has made a significant move in the cryptocurrency market by acquiring Bitnomial, a Chicago-based crypto derivatives exchange. The acquisition is valued at up to $550 million and brings a full CFTC-licensed derivatives operation to Kraken.

The deal values Payward at $20 billion, making it one of the largest acquisitions in the industry. This valuation is a significant increase from its previous implied valuation of $13.3 billion just months prior.

Bitnomial holds three licenses that form a 'full stack' - a Designated Contract Market (DCM) license for running the exchange, a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license for operating the clearinghouse, and a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) license for the brokerage side. This allows traders to use actual crypto as margin collateral and directly compete with CME Group and Coinbase.

Kraken now has a vertically integrated, fully CFTC-licensed derivatives operation covering the exchange, the clearinghouse, and the brokerage arm simultaneously. This puts it in a competitive category that didn't exist twelve months ago - a regulated, multi-asset exchange that sits somewhere between E*Trade and Binance.