Payward to Offer US Clients On‑chain Perpetual Futures on Hyperliquid

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced plans to give US‑based traders access to on‑chain perpetual futures that run on Hyperliquid’s public blockchain, pending regulatory approval.

Regulated structure for on‑chain contracts

The contracts would be listed under Bitnomial Exchange, Payward’s designated contract market regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Client accounts would be cleared through NinjaTrader Clearing, a registered futures commission merchant owned by Payward.

How the market would operate

Hyperliquid’s HIP‑3 framework allows third parties to deploy and administer permissioned perpetual futures markets. In Payward’s model, Bitnomial would act as the market deployer, owner and administrator, while the on‑chain order book on Hyperliquid would match and record trades. Traders would need futures accounts with both NinjaTrader Clearing and Bitnomial to participate.

Potential impact

If approved, the offering would bring a popular offshore and on‑chain product into a regulated US structure, marking the first time such a market is hosted on Hyperliquid for US customers. The move could also provide a new source of US‑linked activity for Hyperliquid, whose decentralized exchange settles roughly 9 % of global open perpetual positions.

Details not disclosed

Payward did not provide a launch timeline, fee schedule, expected trading volumes, or the financial terms of its arrangement with Hyperliquid. A Kraken spokesperson declined to comment on potential revenue implications.