Payward, Kraken’s parent company, announced that it has completed its acquisition of crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial, giving it control of a fully CFTC-regulated derivatives stack in the United States.
With this acquisition, Payward gains infrastructure as a futures fee merchant, designated contract market and derivatives clearing house that it plans to use to expand its CFTC-regulated products across Kraken and NinjaTrader, starting with spot margin and including perpetual and options.
Payward said Bitnomial will continue to operate within its existing regulatory structure and the deal will allow partners including fintechs, banks and brokerages to access US-regulated derivatives through its infrastructure platform.
The “definitive agreement” to acquire the company was first announced on April 17, when Payword announced it would leverage Bitnomial’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) license to expand its offering of regulated crypto derivatives products in the United States.
According to Payward’s initial announcement, Bitnomial is the first crypto-native company in the U.S. to hold an exchange, clearing, and brokerage license under the CFTC.
Crypto derivatives market expands as US platforms build out services
Crypto derivatives, including futures and options tied to assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), account for the majority of digital asset trading volume, with the majority of the activity taking place on offshore platforms.
U.S. regulators have also acknowledged this trend. In a joint statement in September 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission and CFTC said regulatory fragmentation is pushing some crypto trading activities offshore, noting that the current framework restricts perpetual futures trading in the United States.
The authorities said they are exploring ways to use existing authorities to bring derivatives trading into the country, including potential frameworks for products such as perpetual futures and efforts to harmonize market-wide regulatory requirements.
Against this backdrop, US platforms are beginning to expand their offerings of cryptocurrency derivatives. CME Group, the largest U.S. derivatives exchange operator, announced in April that it plans to launch futures trading related to Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI), pending regulatory approval, following January’s plans to list Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM) contracts.
About a month later, the company announced that it would begin offering 24/7 trading of crypto futures and options at the end of May, pending regulatory approval.
sauce: CME Group
Outside the United States, crypto exchanges are expanding their derivatives offerings in other markets. In February, Kraken launched tokenized equity perpetual futures for non-US customers, offering 24/7 leveraged exposure to assets such as US stock indexes, gold, and equities, and in March, Coinbase expanded its derivatives product offering in Europe with new cryptocurrency futures and stock index futures across 26 countries through its MiFID regulated entity.
Other crypto exchanges such as One Trading, Gemini, and Backpack have also launched regulated perpetual contracts in Europe.
