Kraken Acquires CFTC-Licensed Exchange in a $100M Deal

Crypto exchange Kraken has announced the acquisition of Small Exchange, a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-licensed Designated Contract Market (DCM), from IG Group for $100 ￰0￱ acquisition expands Kraken’s growing global infrastructure, which now includes regulated derivatives venues in the UK, European Union, and the ￰1￱ unified trading system supports six fiat currencies and more than 450 digital and traditional assets, operating within a single platform ￰2￱ Derivatives Push According to the official press release, the latest deal is an important step toward Kraken’s goal of launching a fully US-based derivatives product suite, in a bid to strengthen its presence in the world’s largest capital ￰3￱ exchange has now secured a DCM license, which will enable it to design and operate exchange-listed derivatives markets in the United States under CFTC ￰4￱ move follows a series of strategic developments in Kraken’s derivatives ￰5￱ in 2025, the company acquired NinjaTrader, a leading US futures trading platform, allowing American clients to trade CME-listed cryptocurrency futures alongside spot ￰6￱ October, Kraken expanded these offerings to include contracts across equities, foreign exchange indices, and commodities such as oil and ￰7￱ acquisition of Small Exchange continues Kraken’s long-term investment in the derivatives ￰8￱ 2019, the company has acquired and built multiple regulated entities, including Crypto Facilities in the UK, which operates under the FCA’s oversight and recently launched Europe’s largest regulated crypto futures offering under the MiFID II ￰9￱ on the acquisition, the crypto exchange’s co-CEO, Arjun Sethi, stated, “This step connects spot, futures, and margin products inside a single regulated liquidity system, reducing fragmentation, lowering funding latency, and bringing onshore the kind of access and performance that has mostly existed ￰10￱ CFTC oversight, Kraken can now integrate clearing, risk, and matching into one environment that meets the same standards as the largest exchanges in the world.” Key Developments So Far Kraken posted $412 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2025, up 18% from a year earlier but down 13% from ￰11￱ exchange’s adjusted EBITDA, however, slipped 7% to $79.7 million as trading activity slowed due to seasonal weakness and global market uncertainty tied to US tariffs during the ￰12￱ that, Kraken’s total exchange volume grew 19% year-over-year to $186.8 billion.

Meanwhile, funded accounts rose 37% to 4.4 million, and platform assets increased 47% to $43.2 ￰13￱ also gained ground in spot trading, with stablecoin-fiat trading volumes jumping from 43% to 68%. Last month, Kraken completed a $500 million funding round at a $15 billion valuation, ahead of its 2026 ￰14￱ raise was self-structured and backed by Tribe Capital, Sethi, and other ￰15￱ exchange has now raised $527 million overall.