Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms in the world, has acquired the US Small Exchange in a deal worth $100 million. This is another strategic move before the planned entry to the traditional stock exchange and a significant expansion of the offer for US customers.
A strategic acquisition opens the door to a new market
Small Exchange, founded in 2017, is a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated platform offering futures, derivatives and options trading. The exchange was previously owned by the British financial group IG Group, known for its IG trading platform.
The structure of the transaction shows the Kraken exchange’s confidence in the future of the crypto market. The US platform paid $32.5 million in cash and the remaining $67.5 million in shares of Payward’s parent company. This is not only a strategic acquisition, but also a signal to the market that Kraken is preparing for major corporate changes.
What will change for American traders?
With the new acquisition, Kraken is licensed to design and create markets for exchange-traded derivatives in the United States, all under the supervision of the CFTC. As the company emphasizes, the transaction “lays the foundations” for the launch of a fully American suite of derivative products and a unified trading environment.
Arjun Sethi, CEO of Kraken, explains:
The new structure combines spot, futures and margin products in one regulated liquidity system, reducing fragmentation, shortening funding delays and bringing onshore the type of access and efficiency that has previously operated primarily offshore.
This is a significant change in the context of July this year, when Kraken launched trading of CME-based futures contracts for American clients. This happened shortly before the GENIUS Act and Clarity Act were signed into law, which significantly improved regulatory transparency for futures trading.
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A series of acquisitions builds a trading empire
Small Exchange is Kraken’s third acquisition this year. In March, the platform acquired NinjaTrader, another futures trading platform, in a deal worth $1.5 billion. In September, Breakout, a leveraged trading platform, joined the portfolio.
However, the history of acquisition goes deeper. In 2019, Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities, a trading platform regulated by the British Financial Conduct Authority FCA, which enabled it to launch futures trading in the European Union earlier this year.
The IPO looms in the background
All these moves make sense in the context of the planned stock exchange debut. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Kraken is targeting a public offering of shares on Nasdaq as early as January 2026. Earlier reports said that the company had raised funds of USD 500 million at a valuation of USD 15 billion.
The future of IG Group is also an interesting piece of the puzzle. The British company retains its partnership with Kraken and will continue to distribute products through Small Exchange. Moreover, in September it itself received a crypto asset trading license from the FCA, and in June it started offering crypto trading to clients in the UK.
The acquisition of Small Exchange shows how dynamically the regulated derivatives market in the US is developing. For the Kraken exchange, it is a milestone before the planned IPO and an opportunity to significantly increase its share in the American cryptocurrency market.
