IG Group Exits Small Exchange in $100M Deal With Kraken

IG Group (LSE: IGG) completed the sale of Small Exchange to Kraken for $100 million, exiting its U.S. derivatives venture and booking a substantial gain as the British trading platform shifts focus to other crypto markets. The deal values the CFTC-regulated futures venue at $100 million and generates a post-tax profit of £73.3 million for IG.

IG Books Gain, Strengthens Capital Position

The transaction includes $32.5 million in cash and $67.5 million in Payward stock, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken. IG said the sale increases its regulatory capital resources by £22.7 million, with equity consideration excluded from those calculations.Breon Corcoran, CEO, IG Group, Source: LinkedIn

CEO Breon Corcoran described the exit as “a significant return on the Group's acquisition of Small Exchange” while noting it “enables us to collaborate with Kraken on the distribution of new crypto products.”

Under the deal, IG retains a partnership agreement with Kraken that includes distributing products from the newly acquired venue, preserving some commercial ties despite the divestment.

The sale comes roughly two years after IG acquired Small Exchange, though the firm has not disclosed what it originally paid for the Designated Contract Market. Small Exchange operates under direct oversight from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Pivot to Australia and UK Markets Gains Momentum

IG's decision to offload its U.S. derivatives venue arrives as the firm doubles down on crypto expansion elsewhere. In September, IG announced the acquisition of Independent Reserve, a leading Australian digital asset exchange, for A$178 million (about £87 million). That transaction, pending regulatory approvals in Australia and Singapore, is expected to close in early 2026 and will give IG a foothold in two of the Asia-Pacific region's largest crypto markets.

Independent Reserve generated A$35.3 million in revenue for the 12 months ending June 2025, nearly double the prior year, and serves approximately 11,600 average monthly active customers. The platform operates in both Australia and Singapore, offering trading in 34 digital currencies to retail and institutional clients.

Just last month, IG secured a cryptoasset license from the UK Financial Conduct Authority, becoming the first UK-listed company to join the regulator's cryptoasset register. The license allows IG to expand its crypto offerings in the British market, including the ability for customers to transfer crypto assets in and out of the platform and access a broader range of digital currencies.

IG launched spot crypto trading in the UK in June through a partnership with Uphold, adding digital assets to a platform that already offers stocks, indices, ETFs, forex, commodities, and derivatives. With the new FCA license, current crypto customers will be migrated onto IG's own platform in the coming weeks.

Related stories: IG Group’s First Spot Crypto Numbers: £0.3M Revenue, 9,700 Active Monthly Traders

Building Infrastructure Through Zero Hash Stake

Earlier in its fiscal 2026, IG participated in a funding round for Zero Hash Holdings, a market infrastructure provider for crypto, stablecoin, and tokenized assets. The investment left IG with an 8.1% stake in Zero Hash on a fully diluted basis, down from 9.3% before the latest funding round. The round was among the largest private market raises in the crypto sector in 2025 and valued Zero Hash at approximately $1 billion.

IG's U.S. operation, tastytrade, has separately expanded cryptocurrency offerings to 23 coins and introduced stablecoin account funding through Zero Hash infrastructure, enabling round-the-clock funding capabilities.

Kraken Eyes a Unified U.S. Trading Hub

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, Source: YouTube

With its latest purchase, Kraken lays the foundation for a fully onshore derivatives venue designed to cover spot, futures, and margin products under a single regulatory system. The acquisition gives Kraken direct oversight from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), positioning the exchange to offer a broader suite of exchange-listed derivatives to U.S. clients.

Arjun Sethi, Kraken’s co-CEO, said the move “creates the foundation for a new generation of United States derivatives markets ... designed for scale, transparency, and efficiency.” Sethi added that operating under the CFTC license “reduces fragmentation, lowers funding latency, and brings onshore the kind of access and performance that has mostly existed offshore.”

Kraken already holds regulated trading venues in the United Kingdom and the European Union and now aims to connect U.S. traders with institutional-grade infrastructure typically seen in larger global exchanges.