The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has expanded its derivatives trading products in the U.S. market through its latest acquisition.
Kraken announced on Thursday that it has acquired Small Exchange, a designated contract market (DCM), from trading company IG Group for $100 million.
As a DCM licensed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Small Exchange will authorize Kraken to conduct derivatives trading exchange listings in the U.S.
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated, "Under CFTC regulation, Kraken can integrate clearing, risk management, and matching functions into a single environment, meeting the standards of the world's largest exchanges."
The acquisition of Small Exchange advances Kraken's mission to establish a unified trading platform, laying the foundation for a "new generation of the U.S. derivatives market."
The CFTC-licensed DCM helps Kraken connect spot, futures, and margin trading products into a single regulated liquidity system, reducing fragmentation and improving trade execution speed, Sethi noted.
This move is also part of a larger effort towards global derivatives infrastructure, including Kraken's derivatives platform in the UK and EU.
"These elements together build a network of real-time moving collateral across net exposures in different jurisdictions, reducing the capital inefficiencies that have long hindered U.S. traders," the co-CEO pointed out.
Kraken has previously made moves in the U.S. derivatives market, and this acquisition of Small Exchange is not its first. The exchange acquired the futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in July, launching a derivatives trading platform for U.S. traders.
The NinjaTrader acquisition was announced in March 2025, enabling Kraken to offer both CME-listed crypto futures and spot products within a unified interface.
The expansion of derivatives products aligns with Kraken's ongoing investment in the derivatives market over the years, including the acquisition of the UK derivatives platform Crypto Facilities in 2019.
In May 2025, Kraken launched derivatives trading in the EU, following local regulations related to crypto derivatives under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).
Kraken continues to drive the development of the next generation of crypto derivatives, coinciding with the derivatives sector outperforming spot trading on centralized exchanges (CEX).
Reports indicate that spot trading volume fell by 22% in the second quarter of 2025, while derivatives trading volume remained relatively strong, declining by only about 4%, totaling $20.2 trillion.
Mark Jennings, head of Gemini's European division, stated that the global derivatives market has seen rapid growth in recent months, expected to reach $23 trillion by the end of 2025.
As derivatives become a key trend in the crypto space in 2025, major derivatives platforms and CEXs are accelerating the expansion of related products.
CME Group announced in early October that it will launch around-the-clock crypto derivatives trading services in 2026.
By trading volume, the largest U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase is also actively positioning itself in the derivatives business, completing its acquisition of Deribit in May this year.
Related: 95% of institutional Ethereum purchases occurred in the third quarter—could this be the start of an ETH supercycle?
Original article: “Kraken doubles down on U.S. futures business with $100 million acquisition of Small Exchange”
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