Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced on Wednesday in a post on X that it plans to offer US clients access to onchain perpetual futures markets on the Hyperliquid blockchain, with the markets set to operate under Bitnomial Exchange, a venue regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US agency that oversees futures and derivatives markets. The announcement sent the HYPE token up more than 4% within hours.

Payward 🤝 @HyperliquidX

We're building permissioned Hyperliquid HIP-3* markets for US clients. pic.twitter.com/D9WwRgVaK0

— Payward (@Payward) September 16, 6

If it proceeds as planned, the arrangement would make Bitnomial the first regulated US exchange to operate markets on Hyperliquid. The rollout would begin with Hyperliquid's HIP-3 markets, a framework that allows third parties to deploy and run their own permissioned perpetual futures markets. Under the structure, Bitnomial would create and administer the markets, while NinjaTrader Clearing would handle client accounts — a setup that pairs onchain market infrastructure with a US-regulated exchange and a dedicated clearing operation.

To trade, US clients would need to open futures accounts with Payward's registered broker and be approved by both NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial. That two-step approval means only allowlisted accounts would be permitted to participate.

Perpetual futures are derivative products that let traders bet on the price of a digital asset without owning it. The contracts carry no expiry date, and traders pay periodic funding fees to keep positions open.

A Market That Has Mostly Operated Offshore

Perpetual futures have largely traded outside US regulated markets since they launched in 2016. In 2025 alone, more than $85 trillion in perpetual futures changed hands globally, according to CoinGecko data. Hyperliquid's decentralized exchange currently handles around 9% of all open perpetual futures positions worldwide — a share that makes it one of the largest venues in the sector.

Against that backdrop, the Payward plan would for the first time bring a slice of that offshore activity under US regulatory oversight, connecting one of the sector's largest onchain venues with the US regulated futures framework.

The proposed deal could also help Hyperliquid recover from a revenue dip. Revenue fell 43% in the third quarter of 2025 before recovering to about $202 million in the second quarter of 2026, per DefiLlama data.

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, comments that pushed HYPE to record highs near $89 in early September.

Market Reaction

HYPE derivatives activity picked up quickly after the news. Trading volume rose nearly 30% in the 24 hours following the announcement, while total HYPE futures open interest — the combined value of outstanding futures contracts — climbed to $2.92 billion, up about 2.5% in four hours. Open interest on Binance jumped 7%, with smaller gains recorded on OKX and Bybit — a move that points to rising bullish sentiment among derivatives traders. Some analysts expect HYPE could reach $100 in the near term.

Payward acquired Bitnomial in May for $550 million and bought NinjaTrader Clearing for $1.5 billion in 2025. The deal does not open Hyperliquid's existing perpetual markets to US clients, which will remain limited to the new permissioned markets.

No fee schedule, trading volume targets, or launch date have been announced. Regulatory approval is still required before anything goes live, which makes the review process — along with any subsequent disclosure of fees, volume targets, and timing — the key milestones to watch as the plan progresses.

Source: CoinCentral