Kraken Parent Payward Plans Hyperliquid Perpetual Futures…

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, said on September 16 that it plans to give eligible US clients access to new perpetual futures markets built on Hyperliquid's blockchain, pairing onchain execution with a regulated US derivatives structure.

The company intends to start with Hyperliquid's HIP-3 framework, which lets third parties deploy and administer their own perpetual futures markets. Under the proposal, the contracts would be created by Payward entities rather than giving US traders direct exposure to Hyperliquid's existing permissionless markets. The launch is subject to regulatory approval, and Payward has not disclosed a start date, fee structure, expected volumes or the assets that would underpin the first contracts. A spokesperson also declined to discuss the company's talks with regulators.

Bitnomial and NinjaTrader provide the regulated layer

Bitnomial Exchange and Bitnomial Clearinghouse would serve as the HIP-3 deployer, creating, administering, clearing and settling the new contracts, while NinjaTrader Clearing would hold customer accounts as the registered futures commission merchant. Eligible clients would therefore need futures accounts approved through the relevant Payward entities instead of connecting directly to Hyperliquid as users of its existing decentralised exchange do.

Payward acquired Bitnomial in May after agreeing to pay up to $550 million for the derivatives company, which holds CFTC licences covering an exchange, clearinghouse and futures commission infrastructure for US digital asset derivatives. The deal has already allowed Kraken to roll out CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for eligible US traders on assets including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP, traded through Bitnomial's regulated infrastructure rather than offshore venues. The Hyperliquid plan would go further by placing regulated markets directly on a public blockchain while keeping onboarding, clearing and compliance inside the US regulatory perimeter.

Hyperliquid is among the largest venues for crypto perpetual futures, but its existing markets are not directly available to US customers under the proposed arrangement. Payward's plan would use HIP-3 to create separate permissioned markets, with Hyperliquid's public order book supplying the underlying trading infrastructure while Payward entities control deployment, client eligibility and settlement. Perpetual contracts have no expiry and use recurring funding payments to track spot prices, and the strategy reflects a broader push to move those products onto regulated US venues. Kraken launched its first CFTC-regulated US perpetual futures in June. Payward has not said whether Hyperliquid or HYPE token holders would share in fees or other economic benefits.