IG pockets £75m after disposal of future exchange platform to beef up crypto capabilities
Investment broker IG has disposed of its future exchange platform, Small Exchange Inc, as part of a partnership with global crypto exchange Kraken.
IG sold the Chicago-based company, which it purchased in 2023, to Payward Inc., the parent company of popular cryptocurrency platform Kraken, for $100m (£74.9m).
The sale consisted of $32.5m in cash and $67.5m in Payward stock, resulting in a post-tax gain of £73.3m for the digital broker.
The move will also boost the company’s regulatory capital resources by £22.7m.
The broker’s share price rose 0.56 per cent in early morning trading to 1,076p. Its share price has risen 9.13 per cent year to date.
IG deal terms
Under the terms of the deal between the two companies, IG will enter a partnership agreement with Kraken.
The agreement includes IG acting as the platform where customers can access or trade crypto products, such as bitcoin and ethereum.
Breon Corcoran, chief executive of IG Group said: “The transaction represents a significant return on the Group’s acquisition of Small Exchange and enables us to collaborate with Kraken on the distribution of new crypto products.”
Muscling into the crypto sector
The decision to offload Small Exchange marks another step in the company’s efforts to pivot towards becoming a multi-asset platform and boost its crypto strategy.
In September, IG announced the acquisition of the leading Australian crypto exchange, Independent Reserve. The acquisition is on track to be completed in early 2026, and IG has also obtained its cryptoasset licence from the Financial Conduct Authority.
The move has enabled the broker to increase its market share and crypto offerings in the UK.
Michael Healy, UK managing director at IG, hailed the move “a significant step forward” in tapping into the “UK’s rapidly growing crypto sector”.
Elsewhere, the group also took part in a new funding round at Zero Hash Holdings, a leading market infrastructure for crypto, stablecoin and tokenised assets earlier this year, acquiring an 8.1 per cent share of the company.