Kraken Buys Small Exchange $100M for US Derivatives Expansion

Kraken acquired Small Exchange , regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the ￰0￱ overseeing derivatives like futures and swaps, from IG Group for $100 ￰1￱ deal includes $32.5 million cash and $67.5 million in Payward ￰2￱ Exchange, launched in 2017, targets retail ￰3￱ retains a partnership ￰4￱ Trading Platform Planned The purchase grants Kraken a Designated Contract Market license to offer derivatives trading in the ￰5￱ aims to integrate spot, futures, and margin ￰6￱ launch date is ￰7￱ builds on Kraken’s July 2025 CME futures ￰8￱ CME, the largest global derivatives exchange, trades futures and options on commodities and ￰9￱ Acquisition Spree Kraken’s $1.5 billion NinjaTrader buy in March 2025 accessed CME markets, following Breakout and Crypto Facilities deals.

Co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized reducing trading fragmentation to rival offshore ￰10￱ trading volumes reached $20.2 trillion in Q2 2025, down 4% from last ￰11￱ and Market Positioning The acquisition strengthens Kraken’s ￰12￱ amid strong derivatives ￰13￱ points to a January 2026 Nasdaq IPO. Kraken’s licenses span the U. S., UK, and EU, making it a rare multi-jurisdictional crypto exchange.