Payward, the parent company of Kraken, said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a US-licensed cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange, valuing Bitnomial’s equity at $20 billion.
According to Payward, Bitnomial is the first crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three Commodity Futures Trading Commission licenses: exchange, clearinghouse and brokerage.
Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi highlighted the importance of native clearing and settlement infrastructure for digital assets, saying that settlement mechanics, margin models and contract structures determine which products can exist and who can access them. He noted Bitnomial spent roughly a decade building crypto-native settlement, crypto collateral and continuous 24/7 markets, capabilities that cannot simply be retrofitted onto legacy systems.
Payward intends to leverage Bitnomial’s infrastructure to offer US clients spot margin trading, perpetual futures and options. The company also said business customers will be able to integrate crypto services through Payward Services, an API supporting spot trading, tokenized stocks, crypto derivatives and fiat onramps.
The acquisition announcement comes after Kraken expanded into tokenized stocks and tokenized perpetual futures trading and after the firm secured a limited-purpose master account with the Federal Reserve, a first for a crypto company. In March 2026 Kraken received approval for a limited-purpose master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, gaining access to the Fed’s central payment system and enabling settlement via Fedwire. The account is granted for a one-year term and includes certain restrictions.
Kraken’s limited-purpose account is similar to the ‘skinny’ master account concept proposed by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and endorsed by Senator Cynthia Lummis in 2025.
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