Kraken Parent Payward Plans Hyperliquid Perpetuals for US Traders 

Points of Focus

• Kraken parent Payward plans to offer US clients onchain perpetual futures through Hyperliquid’s HIP-3* permissioned market framework.
• Bitnomial would create, administer, clear and settle the contracts, with NinjaTrader Clearing carrying approved customer accounts.
• Payward said it would become the first registered US exchange or clearinghouse to deploy a market on Hyperliquid, subject to regulatory approval.

Kraken parent Payward plans to bring Hyperliquid perpetual futures to eligible US traders through a CFTC-regulated structure that would place Bitnomial-run markets on the protocol’s public blockchain. 

Payward announced the plan on Sept. 16, saying Bitnomial Exchange would act as the deployer for new HIP-3* markets. Bitnomial Exchange would create, own and administer the markets, while Bitnomial Clearinghouse would handle clearing and settlement. NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward’s CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, would carry customer accounts.

Trading would be limited to customers onboarded by NinjaTrader and included on allowlists maintained by NinjaTrader and Bitnomial. The contracts would be listed under Bitnomial Exchange rules and remain subject to regulatory approval.

Payward already runs regulated US perpetuals

Kraken launched CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for eligible US clients in June, with contracts across major crypto assets listed through Bitnomial. CFTC records show Bitnomial’s rule changes eliminating expiration dates from perpetual futures contracts were certified on June 12.

Payward completed its acquisition of Bitnomial on May 1 after agreeing to pay up to $550 million in cash and stock. The deal gave Payward control of a designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization and futures commission merchant.

Hyperliquid would add an onchain execution venue to that structure. Payward said trades would be matched and recorded through Hyperliquid’s order book. Its regulated entities would retain responsibility for customer access, market administration, clearing and settlement.

HIP-3 brings wallet allowlists to Hyperliquid

HIP-3 already lets independent builders deploy perpetual markets using HyperCore’s order books and margining system. Deployers define contract terms, oracle methodology and leverage limits and currently need to stake 500,000 HYPE.

HIP-3 has expanded Hyperliquid into stocks, commodities, indexes and private-company markets, broadening the protocol beyond crypto-linked contracts.

Payward’s plan depends on HIP-3*, an optional permissioned extension announced on Sept. 3. HIP-3* adds onchain allowlists controlled by market deployers or authorized sub-deployers, allowing individual venues to restrict trading to approved wallets. The initial HIP-3* functionality is available on testnet with preliminary specifications. Hyperliquid said mainnet support would come through a future network upgrade and has yet to announce a date.

The deal is the latest step in Payward’s expansion of regulated products onto blockchain infrastructure. Earlier this month, Payward partnered with the London Stock Exchange on tokenized UK equities, while Kraken added onchain yield vaults for SPYx, QQQx and NVDAx. 

Hyperliquid is the first protocol Payward plans to use for US onchain perpetuals, with additional protocols and products expected to follow through the same infrastructure.

The company has not disclosed a launch date, initial contracts, leverage limits or trading fees for the Hyperliquid markets.