Hyperliquid to Add Optional Permissioned Market…

Hyperliquid is preparing an extension to its HIP-3 perpetual-futures framework that would let independent market deployers operate permissioned markets, adding an optional compliance layer to infrastructure originally built for permissionless trading. Hyperliquid co-founder Jeffrey Yan announced the functionality, called HIP-3*, on September 3. It is already available in preliminary form on testnet, with a future network upgrade expected to bring it to mainnet.

Under HIP-3*, deployers can maintain onchain allowlists that determine which wallets may participate in an individual market. They can manage those lists directly or hand the responsibility to approved sub-deployers. The feature is optional: existing HIP-3 deployments remain unchanged, and operators that want fully permissionless markets are not required to introduce wallet restrictions.

Access rules enforced at the market level

HIP-3 lets independent developers launch perpetual-futures markets directly on Hyperliquid's HyperCore infrastructure without approval from Hyperliquid Labs. Deployers choose the assets, price oracles, leverage limits, open-interest parameters and other market characteristics, while taking on responsibility for operating and settling their markets. Launching a HIP-3 deployment currently requires staking 500,000 HYPE. The model has helped Hyperliquid move beyond crypto derivatives into perpetual contracts referencing equities, commodities, indices and other real-world assets.

A deployer could, for example, limit a market to wallets belonging to users who have completed specific identity, jurisdictional or eligibility checks. Because the allowlist sits onchain, access rules can be enforced at the market level. That may make the infrastructure more useful to regulated financial institutions or operators whose products cannot legally be offered to every wallet. Permissioning alone, however, does not make a market compliant with any particular regulatory regime; independent deployers remain responsible for meeting the legal requirements applicable to their products.

The timing is notable as Hyperliquid increasingly intersects with traditional regulated finance. Payward, the parent of Kraken, is reportedly discussing a structure with Hyperliquid Labs that could give U.S. traders access to selected Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures through Bitnomial, which Payward acquired in May. Bitnomial operates regulated U.S. derivatives infrastructure, including a CFTC-designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization and a futures commission merchant. The proposal has reportedly been presented to the CFTC and remains subject to regulatory approval. HIP-3* should not be read as confirmation that the arrangement will proceed or that Hyperliquid has been authorized to serve U.S. customers directly.

HIP-3 is already economically significant. A June regulatory filing by Hyperliquid Strategies estimated that HIP-3 markets had generated more than $319 billion in cumulative trading volume and accounted for roughly 37.5% of total Hyperliquid volume as of June 15. Permissioned deployments could widen that addressable market further by allowing institutions, regulated brokers and jurisdiction-specific operators to use the infrastructure under their own participant requirements. For existing users, little changes: HIP-3* does not turn Hyperliquid into a permissioned protocol, but leaves each deployer to decide whether its market is open to everyone or only to approved wallets.