CoinDesk
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, plans to offer US clients access to onchain perpetual futures markets on Hyperliquid, pending regulatory approval. The contracts will start with Hyperliquid HIP-3 markets, listed under the rules of CFTC-regulated Bitnomial Exchange, which Payward acquired in May for $550 million. Clients would hold futures accounts with NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward's registered broker, bought for $1.5 billion in 2025.
If approved, Payward would become the first registered US exchange to deploy markets on the Hyperliquid protocol, with Bitnomial acting as the HIP-3 deployer and the chain's onchain order book matching and recording trades.
Why it matters
Perpetual futures have largely traded outside US regulated markets since their debut in 2016. More than $85 trillion changed hands worldwide in 2025 alone, per CoinGecko, and Hyperliquid's DEX settles roughly 9% of all open perp positions globally. Bringing a slice of that volume into a CFTC-regulated structure would be a landmark for both US derivatives access and DeFi-native infrastructure.
For Hyperliquid, the deployment adds a CFTC-regulated operator and a new source of US-linked activity, a welcome boost for a project whose revenue fell 43% in the third quarter of 2025 to about $202 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to DefiLlama. Its existing perp markets do not become available to US customers, and no revenue split was disclosed.
Market impact
The deal keeps trade matching and recordkeeping onchain while wrapping the product in the same clearing infrastructure Payward already uses for its US crypto perps. "A U.S. client would open a futures account with Payward's registered broker and trade new perpetual futures contracts on Hyperliquid," said Jon Pham, head of US derivatives.
Payward has not disclosed a launch date, fee schedule, or projected volumes. Watch for CFTC sign-off, the first HIP-3 market deployment, and whether rival venues follow with their own onchain-regulated hybrids.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Payward planning to offer US clients on Hyperliquid?
Payward plans to offer US clients access to onchain perpetual futures markets deployed on Hyperliquid's public blockchain, starting with HIP-3 markets, subject to regulatory approval.
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How would the Hyperliquid perp markets be regulated in the US?
The contracts would be listed under the rules of Bitnomial Exchange, Payward's CFTC-regulated designated contract market, with NinjaTrader Clearing carrying approved client accounts.
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Why did Payward acquire Bitnomial and NinjaTrader Clearing?
Payward acquired Bitnomial in May for $550 million and NinjaTrader Clearing for $1.5 billion in 2025, giving it the regulated exchange and clearing infrastructure needed to list the contracts.
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Does this mean US customers can use Hyperliquid's existing perp markets?
No. The proposal only covers new Payward-created contracts deployed on Hyperliquid's chain. Hyperliquid's existing perpetual markets remain unavailable to US customers.
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What share of global perp trading does Hyperliquid settle?
Hyperliquid's decentralized exchange settles roughly 9% of all open perpetual futures positions worldwide, in a market that saw more than $85 trillion in volume in 2025, per CoinGecko.
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