Payward, the parent company of the Kraken crypto exchange, said in a Wednesday press release that it intends to deploy perpetual futures through HIP-3*, a new extension of Hyperliquid's builder-run market system that lets individual operators restrict trading to approved accounts.
- Hyperliquid announced HIP-3* on Sept. 3, describing it as an optional compliance layer for HIP-3, the protocol's framework for independently operated perpetual markets.
- The initial version was released on testnet with preliminary specifications and no announced mainnet launch date.
Hyperliquid describes them as "permissionless builder-deployed perps," with independent operators choosing their own assets, price oracles, leverage limits and other market parameters.
Hyperliquid, but with a guest list
Payward's proposed U.S. version would preserve Hyperliquid's on-chain order book while changing who can enter it.
- Bitnomial, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse Payward acquired in May, would deploy, own and administer the HIP-3* market.
- NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward's registered futures commission merchant, would hold the customer accounts.
- And unlike ordinary Hyperliquid trading, access wouldn't begin with simply connecting a wallet.
- Instead, as Payward said, a U.S. customer would need to be onboarded through NinjaTrader and appear on both NinjaTrader's and Bitnomial's allowlists.
Payward would effectively build a separate regulated market on top of the same blockchain infrastructure.
A $550 million regulatory shortcut
Payward already spent heavily assembling the pieces as the Kraken parent completed its acquisition of Bitnomial in May for up to $550 million, gaining a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization under one corporate group.
By June, it was already using that infrastructure to offer CFTC-regulated perpetual futures to U.S. Kraken clients. Kraken currently lists 16 U.S. perpetual contracts, including BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP.
- Under the proposal, matching and trades would happen on Hyperliquid's public blockchain while Bitnomial assumes the regulated exchange and clearing responsibilities.
- It would also make Bitnomial the first registered U.S. exchange and clearinghouse to deploy a market on Hyperliquid, according to Payward.
- Still, Payward's plan remains subject to regulatory approval, so U.S. clients can't trade the proposed Hyperliquid markets yet.