Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Crypto exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader in a $1.5 billion deal.
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The acquisition would allow Kraken to offer crypto futures services to its clients in the United States.
Kraken to Buy NinjaTrader in a $1.5B Deal
Kraken, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has agreed to acquire U.S. futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. The acquisition would enable Kraken to offer crypto futures and derivatives trading in the U.S.
NinjaTrader is a CFTC-licensed platform that has been around since 2023. The company provides futures trading tools to almost 2 million customers. In its press release on Thursday, Kraken said the acquisition will enable NinjaTrader to expand its services to over 15 million Kraken clients globally. Kraken is currently licensed in the United Kingdom, EU, and Australia.
The crypto exchange stated that,
“This acquisition strengthens Kraken’s position as a 24/7, always-on technology platform built for professional traders, making it a leader in U.S. futures for both traditional and crypto markets. It also accelerates Kraken’s multi-asset-class ambitions — which also include plans for equities trading and payments.”
Kraken is looking to capture more market value in the crypto derivatives ecosystem. Currently, its 24-hour derivatives trading volume sits at around $1.2 billion, behind giants Binance and OKX.
While commenting on the deal, Arjun Sethi, Kraken’s co-CEO, said,
“Traditional markets run on banking systems from the 1950s and post-WWII, exchanges that close at 4 p.m. ET, and settlement delays that take days to resolve. Crypto rails fixed these issues, operating with efficient and real-time infrastructure. But legacy finance and crypto have remained separate ecosystems, until today. This transaction is the first step in our vision of an institutional-grade trading platform where any asset can be traded, anytime.”
Last month, the crypto exchange secured a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license in the EU by acquiring a Cypriot Investment Firm recently approved by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
In January, Kraken re-introduced its crypto-staking service to its U.S. clients two years after halting the platform and paying the SEC a $30m fine. The crypto exchange is now looking to solidify its position in the United States with the acquisition of NinjaTrader.
