Kraken's parent company Payward has spent roughly $2.75 billion over the past year and a half acquiring futures, derivatives, and stablecoin-payment businesses. The buildout spans NinjaTrader, Small Exchange, Bitnomial, and Reap, and it comes as Payward's valuation has climbed toward an estimated $20 billion.
Kraken has quietly turned its parent company, Payward, into a shopping vehicle. Over the past year and a half, Payward has executed a string of acquisitions totaling roughly $2.75 billion in disclosed deal value, covering futures trading, stablecoin payments, derivatives infrastructure, and tokenized assets.
The deal sheet
The largest piece is NinjaTrader, a retail futures and FX trading platform Kraken bought for $1.5 billion in March 2025. That single deal accounts for more than half the total acquisition spend and gave Kraken a foothold in regulated US futures markets.
Kraken then acquired Small Exchange for $100 million in October 2025, adding derivatives capacity. Bitnomial, valued at up to $550 million, further expanded its regulated derivatives footprint. Most recently, Kraken closed a $600 million acquisition of Reap on July 1, 2026, a deal announced in May 2026 that brings stablecoin-powered payment infrastructure focused on Hong Kong and Singapore.
Why the strategy makes sense
By owning the trading infrastructure, the derivatives platform, and the payment rails at once, Kraken can capture value at every layer of a transaction. Buying NinjaTrader instead of building comparable infrastructure also handed Kraken years of regulatory groundwork and an existing user base that had never touched cryptocurrency.
The approach sets Kraken apart from its rivals. Coinbase has instead focused on becoming a regulated custodian and earning yield through staking and lending, while Binance has faced regulatory headwinds that have limited its ability to pursue similar acquisitions in regulated markets.
The numbers behind the ambition
Kraken reported $2.2 billion in revenue for 2025, alongside $2 trillion in transaction volume. In April 2026, Deutsche Börse, operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, acquired a 1.5% stake in Payward for $200 million, implying a valuation of roughly $13.3 billion. That valuation has since climbed to an estimated $20 billion amid growing institutional interest.
The remaining risk is integration: Kraken has committed to operating as a regulated entity across crypto, futures, FX, and payments simultaneously. At a $20 billion valuation against $2.2 billion in annual revenue, the company is approaching the scale where an IPO becomes a logical next step.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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