Kraken’s US derivatives launch reflects broader ‘unified access’ trend

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Kraken’s latest US offering reflects a theme we’ve seen again and again this year: building out a one-stop shop and/or multi-asset trading platform and/or unified investing experience. (I’ll let you pick the buzzy marketing language.) The crypto exchange in May closed on its acquisition of NinjaTrader — a company with a CFTC-registered FCM license that allows Kraken to offer crypto derivatives in the US. A couple months later, here we are: CME-listed crypto futures available via Kraken Pro. The company plans to offer commodity, fixed income, FX and equity futures later this year. Crypto giants realize the value of the derivatives market. It’s a higher-margin business segment (i.e. compared to spot trading) that they’ll look to expand as trading fees are compressed, Architect Partners’ Michael Klena previously told me. I’m sure you recall Coinbase revealing its intent to buy Deribit for $2.9 billion. Unlike Kraken’s buy, that acquisition was more about extending its derivatives footprint outside the US. But the broader goal for these industry behemoths is the same. Offer traders “seamless access” (I’ve read one too many press releases) to as many exposures as possible: spot, options, futures, etc. That’s now extended further to include tokenized stocks and ETFs — though the current iteration of certain offerings (Kraken’s xStocks and Robinhood’s stock tokens) means owning tokens that follow the underlying’s price — not the actual stock or ETF. Dinari chief business officer Anna Wroblewska envisions the “cross-asset opportunities” if NYSE-, CBOE- and CME-linked assets, for example, unified (there’s that word again) in one place that all market participants could access. Dare to dream — particularly as movement on the crypto legislation front could mean the industry is closer to such a reality. Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters: The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily. Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day. Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy. 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Lightspeed: All things Solana. The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more. Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin. [Forward Guidance]