Payward says it intends to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to U.S. clients, with its affiliates dividing market, clearing and account responsibilities.
Payward, the company behind Kraken, outlined the proposal in a Sept. 16 announcement. Bitnomial Exchange, LLC would establish and administer the markets, while Bitnomial Clearinghouse, LLC would handle contract clearing and settlement. Payward identified the exchange as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated designated contract market and the clearinghouse as a CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization.
NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC would maintain customer futures accounts as a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant. Trading eligibility would require NinjaTrader onboarding and approval on both firms’ allowlists.
The proposed markets would use Hyperliquid’s HIP-3* framework for builder-deployed perpetuals. Hyperliquid would provide the order book and record trades, Payward said. The structure assigns market administration, contract settlement and customer accounts to separate regulated firms.
Payward said the proposal would broaden U.S. clients’ access and choice. It cited concentration among Hyperliquid’s builder-deployed perpetual markets: one venue held 98% of their open interest, and no registered U.S. exchange or clearinghouse had deployed a market on the network.
The company also said perpetual futures had traded outside the United States since 2016, while U.S. venues had not offered them for most of the past decade. Payward presented that history and the current market structure as reasons for its proposed U.S. offering.
Hyperliquid’s wallet access control is optional for builders and governs which wallets may trade, rather than who can deploy a market. That distinction also featured in EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of Hyperliquid’s market-deployment rules.
The proposal remains subject to regulatory approval. Payward did not announce a decision date for the review.
