Kraken's parent eyes regulated perpetuals on Hyperliquid
DeFi & Yields ·
Payward wants to be the first CFTC-regulated entity to deploy markets on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 framework, bringing permissioned perpetual futures to US clients.
Payward, which owns Kraken, has said it intends to become the first deployer under CFTC oversight to build on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 system. The plan would see Hyperliquid function purely as the onchain infrastructure layer while Payward's own regulated entities handle the legal and operational work of running US perpetual futures markets.
Under the proposed structure, Bitnomial — a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization that Payward controls and that already answers to the CFTC — would take on the deployer role. That would mean Bitnomial creates, owns, and administers the markets, and also clears and settles the resulting contracts. A second Payward-linked entity, NinjaTrader Clearing, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, would be responsible for holding client accounts if the arrangement wins regulatory sign-off.
The mechanism making this possible is a new optional layer being added to HIP-3, referred to as HIP-3*, which is slated for a future network upgrade. It introduces an onchain allowlist that a deployer or its sub-deployers can use to run permissioned markets. The feature is additive only: it does not alter any existing HIP-3 markets, and deployers choose whether to use it at all. The capability is currently live on testnet, where the design is described as preliminary and open to change based on feedback before any mainnet rollout.
Hyperliquid has framed itself as neutral infrastructure meant to support large segments of the financial system, and HIP-3* is positioned as giving deployers the tools needed to operate within whatever regulatory requirements apply to them — while those deployers remain independent operators responsible for their own markets. That framing matches how Payward's plan is structured, with Hyperliquid providing the rails and Payward's regulated entities retaining legal responsibility for compliance, clearing, and custody of client accounts.
The broader development has drawn attention across multiple outlets, with four distinct sources covering the cluster of announcements tied to Kraken's planned US perpetuals push and Hyperliquid's permissioned-market upgrade. What remains unresolved is whether the CFTC will approve the arrangement, when HIP-3* might move from testnet to a live network upgrade, and what the finalized specifications will look like once feedback from the testnet phase is incorporated.