Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has officially launched on-chain perpetual futures markets for eligible U.S. clients through Hyperliquid's HIP-3 infrastructure. As announced on September 16, the markets represent the first builder-deployed permissioned perpetual markets on Hyperliquid, with Bitnomial serving as the HIP-3 deployer, creating, owning and administering the markets while handling clearing and settlement. The launch builds on Payward's existing U.S. derivatives business, which reported 6.6 million funded accounts as of June 30, 2026, representing a 42% year-over-year increase. According to Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi, the company intends to be the first to hold the keys and carry regulatory obligations in this space, stating that their open rails serve clients in more than 190 countries and territories. The strategy bridges popular offshore derivatives infrastructure with U.S. regulatory oversight without opening existing Hyperliquid order books directly.
The proposed structure differs from Payward's existing U.S. perpetual futures because trades would use Hyperliquid's public blockchain infrastructure. Under the launch, Bitnomial Exchange would act as the HIP-3 deployer, creating and administering perpetual markets while Bitnomial Clearinghouse handles clearing and settlement. NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward's CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, would carry client accounts and restrict access to users approved by both entities. As noted by Payward Head of US Derivatives Jon Pham, a U.S. client would open a futures account with Payward's registered broker and trade new perpetual futures contracts on Hyperliquid, cleared through the same clearinghouse that supports Payward's existing crypto perpetual contracts. The markets will run on Hyperliquid's public blockchain, whose onchain order book matches and records trades, with the central point being Payward's attempt to bring a popular offshore and onchain trading product into a regulated U.S. structure while keeping trade matching and recordkeeping on Hyperliquid. This setup differs from traditional approaches where users connect wallets to single platforms, instead allowing Payward to carry out checks and hold regulatory responsibility while providing U.S. traders transparency associated with blockchain-based markets within a controlled system.
The launch follows significant growth in Hyperliquid's trading activity, with the protocol handling more than $200 billion in perpetual trading volume over the latest 30-day period according to DefiLlama data. CoinGecko ranked Hyperliquid as the most active onchain perpetuals venue of 2025, demonstrating its position as the best-in-class onchain product. The protocol has processed approximately $237 billion in perpetual trading volume over the latest 30-day period and around $45.5 billion over seven days, with cumulative perpetual volume standing above $5.3 trillion. TradeXYZ became the dominant HIP-3 operator during the second quarter, processing $202.36 billion and controlling 95.1% of HIP-3 trading volume, as estimated by a Hyperliquid Research Collective report. Hyperliquid's decentralized exchange settles roughly 9% of all open perp positions worldwide, with perpetual futures having traded outside U.S. regulated markets since their debut in 2016, with more than $85 trillion changing hands worldwide in 2025 alone according to CoinGecko's 2026 State of Crypto Perpetuals report.
Recent data shows Hyperliquid's economic strength with weekly protocol revenue reaching $13.48 million and gross fees standing at $15.11 million. The platform has removed 156.58K HYPE worth around $12.42 million from circulation, with cumulative revenue now reaching $1.31 billion. Hyperliquid maintains strong liquidity with $6.83 billion in stablecoin liquidity, where USDC accounts for 98.31% of the pool. The platform generates approximately $200 million in annual yield from USDC holdings, creating another potential source for HYPE buybacks. Daily perpetual volume reaches $8.31 billion with $339.25 million on DEXs, demonstrating the protocol's ability to support high trading activity. However, the burn cycle faces challenges as fee growth must outpace HYPE's price appreciation to increase token removals, with weekly fees remaining volatile between $11 million and $15 million.
Federal records confirm that Bitnomial holds the central registrations needed for Payward's U.S. derivatives operation. The CFTC designated Bitnomial Exchange as a contract market in 2020 and continues to list the company as a designated contract market. Bitnomial Clearinghouse is separately registered as a derivatives clearing organization that can clear futures, options on futures and fully collateralized swaps. NinjaTrader Clearing currently lists among Bitnomial's clearing members and identifies as a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant and NFA member. The regulatory framework allows only accounts onboarded by NinjaTrader and approved by both entities to trade, ensuring proper compliance oversight. Payward acquired Bitnomial in May for $550 million and bought NinjaTrader Clearing for $1.5 billion in 2025, positioning the company to leverage its strategic acquisitions for this regulated U.S. market entry. However, the product is not yet live, with Payward confirming that contracts would comply with Bitnomial's regulations pending approval from authorities, though the company has not announced the launch date, specific fees, or details of any economic arrangement with Hyperliquid.
