Payward Aims to Launch US-Registered Perpetual Futures on Hyperliquid Blockchain
Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has announced its intention to become the first US-registered exchange to offer perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid public blockchain. The contracts will be listed on the Bitnomial Exchange, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), but will be confined to a HIP-3 restricted market. This means US users will not have direct access to Hyperliquid’s existing decentralized trading.
Navigating US Regulatory Landscape for Perpetual Futures
US cryptocurrency trading regulations have long presented a barrier to perpetual futures. Payward now seeks to create an opening.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, revealed the company’s plan to deploy a perpetual futures market on the Hyperliquid public blockchain, positioning it as the first US-registered exchange to do so. This move leverages Payward’s acquisition of Bitnomial in 2025 for $550 million, which granted it CFTC-registered Designated Contract Market (DCM) status.
A Hybrid Approach to On-Chain Trading
The innovation lies not just in “going on-chain,” but in how it is being done. Jon Pham, Payward’s Head of US Derivatives, explained that US customers will open accounts through Payward’s registered brokerage. Trades will be executed on Hyperliquid for new perpetual contracts, with clearing handled by Payward’s existing clearinghouse, Bitnomial Clearinghouse. Payward’s futures broker, NinjaTrader Clearing, will manage customer accounts.
Crucially, Payward will not grant US customers direct access to Hyperliquid’s existing decentralized perpetual futures market. Instead, it will utilize HIP-3, a third-party market deployment protocol developed by Hyperliquid. This protocol allows external institutions to establish and manage their own permissioned perpetual futures markets on the Hyperliquid blockchain.
Bitnomial Exchange will act as the HIP-3 deployer, creating, owning, and managing these markets, with contracts listed under CFTC oversight. US customers will require approval from both NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial to open trading accounts.
This design keeps trade matching and record-keeping on the Hyperliquid public blockchain while bringing regulatory responsibility back within the CFTC’s jurisdiction. Hyperliquid’s existing perpetual futures markets will remain inaccessible to US users.
Tapping into a Multi-Trillion Dollar Market
Since their introduction in 2016, perpetual futures have largely been traded in offshore, unregulated markets. According to CoinGecko’s “State of Perpetual Futures 2026” report, global perpetual futures trading volume exceeded $8.5 trillion in 2025, a scale of capital that US regulators cannot ignore.
Hyperliquid currently holds a significant position within the overall perpetual futures market. Data from DefiLlama indicates that the decentralized exchange (DEX) settles approximately 9% of global open perpetual positions.
For Payward, bringing a product from an $8.5 trillion offshore market into a compliant framework represents a potential market for US institutions and compliant retail investors. However, this comes with the cost of adhering to CFTC approval processes, Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements, and restricted trading conditions.
Hyperliquid’s Potential Gains and Challenges
The specific economic terms of the agreement between Payward and Hyperliquid, including fee sharing, revenue distribution, or projected trading volumes, have not been disclosed. A Kraken spokesperson declined to comment on potential revenue.
However, Hyperliquid’s financial data suggests a need for new revenue streams. According to DefiLlama, Hyperliquid’s revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was approximately $202 million, a 43% decrease from the third quarter of 2025.
Payward’s HIP-3 deployment offers two potential benefits for Hyperliquid: first, the establishment of a CFTC-registered entity as an on-chain operator, enhancing the blockchain’s institutional credibility; and second, the generation of on-chain activity from the US market. The ultimate scale of this transaction remains uncertain.
A Test Case for On-Chain Derivatives Compliance
The substantive significance of Payward’s proposal lies not in Hyperliquid finally serving US users, but in its testing of a compliance framework: overlaying the matching capabilities of a decentralized protocol with the shell of a CFTC-registered exchange.
The replicability of this framework hinges on three conditions: the CFTC’s stance on HIP-3 restricted markets, the willingness of other Layer 1/Layer 2 solutions to introduce similar third-party market protocols, and Payward’s ability to demonstrate that trading volumes under this structure can justify compliance costs.
If Payward succeeds, this pathway could become a standard template for perpetual futures entering the mainstream US market. If it fails, it will serve as a clear indication of the CFTC’s compliance boundaries for on-chain derivatives. Payward has not yet announced a launch date or fee structure, and the proposal is currently in its initial stages.
