Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced plans on Wednesday to bring onchain perpetual futures to US clients via Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets. The move, pending regulatory approval, would make Payward’s CFTC-regulated exchange Bitnomial the first regulated US exchange operating on Hyperliquid.
The planned markets would be permissioned and allowlist-only. Bitnomial would create and administer the markets, while NinjaTrader Clearing would handle client accounts. To participate, US clients would need futures accounts with Payward’s registered broker and approval from both NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial.
The announcement triggered a sharp response in Hyperliquid’s HYPE token, which rose more than 4% within hours. Trading volume climbed nearly 30% in 24 hours, and total HYPE futures open interest reached $2.92 billion, up about 2.5% in four hours, with Binance open interest jumping 7%.
Perpetual futures have mostly operated outside US regulated markets since launching in 2016, with more than $85 trillion traded globally in 2025, according to CoinGecko. Hyperliquid currently accounts for roughly 9% of global open perpetual futures positions. The new arrangement could also support Hyperliquid after its revenue fell 43% in Q3 2025 before recovering to about $202 million in Q2 2026, per DefiLlama.
Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company intends to be the first to hold regulatory obligations on Hyperliquid. President Donald Trump has previously said regulators were working to bring Hyperliquid onshore, which pushed HYPE to record highs near $89 in early September. No fee schedule, trading volume targets, or launch date have been announced, and the proposal does not open Hyperliquid’s existing perpetual markets to US clients.
