Bitnomial

Bitnomial

Luke Hoersten built Bitnomial after years at Allston Trading, where he was Head of Core Technology and a managing partner. The firm's founding insight came from the Swiss Franc crisis of 2011–2015 — an event that showed Hoersten how centralized markets could fail during macro stress. Bitnomial launched as a CFTC-regulated exchange for physically settled bitcoin futures. Bitnomial operates three licensed entities: Bitnomial Exchange as a Designated Contract Market (DCM), Bitnomial Clearinghouse as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), and Bitnomial Clearing as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). It offers perpetual futures, traditional futures, options, leveraged spot, and prediction markets — all crypto-margined and crypto-settled. The exchange targets US and international retail and institutional traders, with up to 6x leverage on margined products. The firm was acquired by Payward Inc. in 2025, the parent company of Kraken (per the firm, 2025). Bitnomial's team includes former executives from DRW, ABN AMRO, Cboe, CME Group, and OCC. Its Chicago headquarters sits at 325 W. Huron St. Bitnomial's structural differentiator is its full CFTC license stack — no other crypto-native exchange in the US holds a DCO registration alongside a DCM and FCM. That allows Bitnomial to offer margined perpetual futures and physically settled derivatives under one clearinghouse, a capability offshore exchanges cannot match in the US market.