Kraken parent company plans to launch regulated Hyperliquid perpetual contract

Payward announces the provision of on-chain perpetual contracts to eligible U.S. customers through Hyperliquid HIP-3 infrastructure

Payward has announced plans to use Hyperliquid's HIP-3 infrastructure to deploy, clear and settle proposed contracts through Bitnomial, which is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to provide on-chain perpetual futures to eligible U.S. customers. The plan still requires regulatory approval.

Core Summary

Compliance Market Deployment: Payward plans to establish a regulated Hyperliquid sustainable market for eligible U.S. customers, subject to regulatory approval.

Bitnomial's role: Bitnomial will leverage its existing CFTC regulatory infrastructure stack to deploy, manage, clear and settle HIP-3 contracts.

Access Restrictions: NinjaTrader Clearing will host customer accounts and allow access only to users who have been previously approved by both entities.

Trading data: DefiLlama data shows that Hyperliquid's perpetual contract trading volume in the past 30 days is close to US$237 billion.

User growth: Payward reported that it had 6.6 million funds accounts as of the end of June after launching regulated U.S. perpetual contracts through Bitnomial.

Cooperation details and market structure

Kraken 母公司 Payward 于 9 月 16 日确认，Hyperliquid 将成为此次倡议中使用的第一个区块链协议。尽管计划中的市场尚未对美国交易者开放，且需等待监管批准，但这一提案扩展了 Payward 现有的美国衍生品业务。

在 Payward 2026 年第二季度的财务更新中，公司指出 Bitnomial 的基础设施已经支持受监管的美国永续期货和现货保证金产品。截至 6 月底，Payward 的资金账户数量达到 660 万个，同比增长 42%。

新结构的独特之处在于，交易将使用 Hyperliquid 的公共区块链基础设施。根据 Payward 的提案，Bitnomial Exchange 将作为 HIP-3 的部署者，创建、拥有并管理永续市场，而 Bitnomial Clearinghouse 则负责清算和结算。交易将利用 Hyperliquid 的链上订单簿进行撮合和记录。

Hyperliquid 官方关于 HIP-3 的文件指出，由构建者部署的市场将继承 HyperCore 的订单簿和保证金系统。部署者控制其创建市场的合约定义、预言机价格、杠杆限制和结算程序。

许可制模型与合规准入

HIP-3 最初设计为非许可基础设施，但 Hyperliquid 最近引入了可选的许可功能，允许市场部署者通过链上白名单限制参与资格。这一功能旨在支持那些因监管或机构要求而限制交易者的市场。

Payward plans to adopt this model for U.S. customers. Only traders who have successfully settled in through NinjaTrader Clearing and are included in the whitelists required by NinjaTrader and Bitnomial can gain access. This means that U.S. customers will not have unlimited access to all markets currently available on Hyperliquid, and Bitnomial will decide which regulated products to deploy and manage based on its exchange rules.

Regulatory Infrastructure and Infrastructure

Federal records confirm that Bitnomial already holds the central registration qualifications required for Payward's U.S. derivatives operations.

• CFTC Registration: The CFTC designated Bitnomial Exchange as a Contract Market (DCM) in 2020 and still lists it as DCM in the current register. Bitnomial Clearinghouse is separately registered as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), which can clear futures, futures options and fully collateralized swap contracts.
• NinjaTrader Clearing: Located on the client side of the proposed Hyperliquid structure. Its regulatory disclosure documents show that it is a CFTC registered futures commission trader (FCM) and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA)(NFA ID: 0309379). Payward acquired Bitnomial earlier this year, thereby taking control of the exchange, clearing and brokerage infrastructure of its domestic derivatives business. The deal was previously valued at US$550 million.

Kraken began offering perpetual futures to eligible U.S. customers through Bitnomial in June, initially listing perpetual contracts alongside spot, margin and traditional futures products on Kraken Pro. Payward's latest plan will reuse some of the regulated structures while moving execution of proposed contracts to Hyperliquid infrastructure.

HIP-3 activity is growing rapidly

This proposal follows a surge in transaction volume in Hyperliquid and its builder deployment markets. The latest data from DefiLlama shows that Hyperliquid's perpetual contract transaction volume in the past 30 days was approximately US$237 billion, and approximately US$45.5 billion in seven days. During the same period, the cumulative perpetual trading volume exceeded US$5.3 trillion.

The HIP-3 system allows independent teams to create markets using Hyperliquid's trading infrastructure. According to the Hyperliquid document, deployers need to pledge 500,000 HYPE to start the main-network sustainable decentralized exchange (DEX).

Builder activity has been extended beyond cryptocurrencies. The HIP-3 market has been used for products linked to stocks, commodities and other financial assets. TradeXYZ became the dominant HIP-3 operator in the second quarter, processing an estimated $202.36 billion in trading volume, or 95.1% of HIP-3 trading volume. [TAG

Payward said in the announcement that one of the existing HIP-3 operators accounted for about 98% of the builder's deployment open interest, but did not specify the specific platform name. CoinGecko's report notes that centralized perpetual exchanges handled $85.3 trillion in trading volume in 2025, while decentralized perpetual venues grew to $6.38 trillion from $1.50 trillion in 2024.

美国客户的交易流程

尽管市场执行发生在公共区块链基础设施上，但拟议的 Hyperliquid 产品保留了传统的受监管账户控制措施。美国客户首先需要通过 NinjaTrader Clearing 开设期货账户，然后获得相关 Bitnomial 市场的批准，关联地址必须出现在许可的 HIP-3 访问列表中。

Payward 美国衍生品负责人 Jon Pham 表示，该设置使用了支持 Payward 现有美国永续期货的同一清算所。Payward 联合创始人兼首席执行官 Arjun Sethi 强调，Bitnomial 将持有市场密钥并承担监管义务，这是将公共区块链交易基础设施与注册美国衍生品实体连接的一种方式。

下一步：监管清理

Payward 尚未公布其 Hyperliquid 市场的发布日期。公司明确表示，计划的链上合约需经监管批准，并将列在 Bitnomial Exchange 规则之下。虽然 CFTC 记录证实了 Bitnomial 的现有资质，但尚未确立对 9 月 16 日宣布的具体 HIP-3 安排的最终监管许可。

Bitnomial 目前已列出受监管的加密货币永续产品，包括 XRP、Stellar、Cardano、Tezos 和 Litecoin 等资产。此外，Bitnomial 还有一份 HYPE/USD 现货产品，但这不应与 Payward 新提出的 Hyperliquid HIP-3 永续市场混淆。

Payward 表示，Hyperliquid 将是其计划中的美国链上永续市场使用的第一个协议，并打算为其他合作伙伴产品提供类似的受监管基础设施。9 月 16 日的公告中未提及额外的区块链协议或发布时间表。