Kraken Parent Payward Plans to Launch Regulated Hyperliquid Perpetual Futures for US Clients

TLDR

• Payward, Kraken’s parent company, plans to launch onchain perpetual futures on Hyperliquid for US clients
• The markets would operate under CFTC-regulated Bitnomial Exchange, making it the first regulated US exchange on Hyperliquid
• Clients must hold futures accounts with NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial to participate
• Hyperliquid’s HYPE token surged over 4% and futures open interest on Binance jumped 7% following the news
• The move is subject to regulatory approval and no launch date has been confirmed

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Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced on Wednesday that it plans to offer US clients access to onchain perpetual futures markets on the Hyperliquid blockchain. The announcement sent HYPE token prices 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, 2026

The plan would start with Hyperliquid HIP-3 markets, which allow third parties to deploy and run their own permissioned perpetual futures markets. Bitnomial, Payward’s CFTC-regulated exchange, would create and administer the markets. NinjaTrader Clearing would handle client accounts.

To trade, US clients would need to open futures accounts with Payward’s registered broker and be approved by both NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial. Only allowlisted accounts would be permitted to trade.

Perpetual futures are derivative products that let traders bet on the price of a digital asset without owning it. They have 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. 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, which pushed HYPE to record highs near $89 in early September.

Market Reaction

HYPE trading volume rose nearly 30% in 24 hours following the announcement. Total HYPE futures open interest climbed to $2.92 billion, up about 2.5% in four hours.

Open interest on Binance jumped 7%, with smaller gains on OKX and Bybit. This 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.

No fee schedule, trading volume targets, or launch date have been announced. Regulatory approval is still required before anything goes live.