Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ: PURR) announced on Thursday that a subsidiary has filed an application to become a futures commission merchant (FCM) — a CFTC-regulated intermediary that accepts customer funds and carries accounts for futures and derivatives trading — a move intended to bring perpetual futures trading on Hyperliquid to US customers within a regulated framework.

If approved, the FCM would carry US client accounts for permissioned markets deployed under HIP-3*, an upcoming expansion of Hyperliquid's infrastructure that allows independent operators to launch markets with restricted access. Perpetual futures are derivative contracts with no expiration date, and under US derivatives rules such products must reach US customers through registered intermediaries — the role the FCM application is designed to fill. The company cautioned that the application remains subject to regulatory approval, with no assurance regarding its timing or outcome.

David Schamis, CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies, said the filing is part of the company's broader strategy to capture value from the Hyperliquid ecosystem through HYPE ownership while expanding access to its trading infrastructure. For a company whose core holding is HYPE, the filing extends its position beyond token ownership into the ecosystem's regulated-access layer.

The application follows Hyperliquid's recently announced plans to introduce HIP-3*, a framework under which market deployers can manage access through onchain allowlists while using Hyperliquid as the underlying infrastructure. According to the company, the framework is designed to accommodate regulated market operators without changing existing permissionless markets.

Parallel Industry Efforts

Hyperliquid Strategies' filing arrives amid similar moves across the industry. Kraken parent Payward has also announced plans to become the first CFTC-regulated deployer under HIP-3*, with Bitnomial expected to operate and clear perpetual futures markets and NinjaTrader Clearing serving as the FCM responsible for customer accounts, subject to regulatory approval.

Hyperliquid Strategies' application would position the company to provide a comparable customer account function through its own subsidiary. For readers tracking the timeline, each component of these arrangements — the deployer role, market clearing, and the FCM function — still requires regulatory sign-off, so no launch dates have been set.

Treasury Expansion and Quarterly Results

The filing was disclosed alongside the company's quarterly earnings report, which showed $802 million deployed during the three months ended September 30, including $785 million used to acquire 9.1 million HYPE tokens. The treasury grew from 29.3 million HYPE at the end of June to 38.5 million at the end of September.

As of October 28, the company held approximately 38.9 million HYPE tokens at a blended acquisition cost of $56.35 per token, with $245.3 million remaining in cash and cash equivalents.

Hyperliquid Strategies reported $620.6 million in quarterly net income, primarily reflecting $803 million in unrealized gains on its HYPE holdings, alongside $12.3 million in staking revenue and validator commissions. The results were detailed in a press release issued by the company.

Market Backdrop

The announcement came as a broad selloff swept through both crypto and traditional financial markets on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declining sharply. Bitcoin traded below $76,000 at press time, down nearly 6% over the past 24 hours, while HYPE fell approximately 7% to around $78.

Source: CryptoBriefing