Payward Plans U.S. Hyperliquid Perpetuals Through Licensed Firms

Kraken parent Payward plans to offer U.S. customers perpetuals built on Hyperliquid through licensed affiliates, a structure that would bring the protocol’s trading infrastructure into a regulated U.S. market if approved.

Bitnomial would deploy and manage the markets, as well as clear and settle contracts. It holds designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization licenses. NinjaTrader Clearing, a futures commission merchant, would carry customer accounts and provide access to the trading venue. The proposal remains subject to approval. The two roles separate market operations from the customer account relationship.

The arrangement relies on HIP-3*, a Hyperliquid framework that lets outside teams launch perpetual markets using its trading infrastructure. Its optional access control lets an operator place approved wallets on an on-chain allowlist after checking customer identities. Only wallets added to the list could trade in a permissioned market. Hyperliquid’s existing markets would continue unchanged because use of the feature is optional.