On September 16, Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced plans to bring perpetual futures on Hyperliquid to US clients. The market is expected to use a public blockchain, but only accounts approved by Payward’s entities will be authorized to trade.
Public Blockchain, Conditional Trading Access
Perpetual contracts are derivative products with no fixed expiration date. Users trade based on asset price movements without necessarily buying and holding the asset itself. The ability to use leverage also gives this type of product a different risk profile compared to spot trading.
Under the plan announced by Payward, Hyperliquid will provide the order-matching infrastructure and record transactions on the blockchain. Bitnomial, an exchange operator and clearinghouse owned by Payward, is expected to create and manage the market, as well as handle contract clearing and settlement.
NinjaTrader Clearing will manage customer accounts. To trade, users must complete the account opening process at NinjaTrader and be included in the list of allowed users by both NinjaTrader and Bitnomial.
Therefore, this plan does not mean all US users can freely connect their wallets to trade across all of Hyperliquid. The proposed offering consists of dedicated markets with legally responsible entities and specific access requirements.
Payward Aims to Connect DeFi with Regulated Markets
According to Payward, Bitnomial is an exchange and clearing organization regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while NinjaTrader Clearing is a registered futures commission merchant. These entities, rather than the blockchain itself, will bear the regulatory obligations associated with the service.
That division of roles is the core of the announcement. Trading infrastructure can reside on a public network, while account opening, determining trading eligibility, and contract processing still pass through regulated entities.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that Payward aims to become the first entity to deploy a market on Hyperliquid through a registered exchange or clearing organization in the US.
For US users, the plan, if approved, could open up an additional avenue to access on-chain products through brokerage accounts. For Hyperliquid, it presents an opportunity to expand the reach of its infrastructure without requiring every market to share the same access mechanism.
However, this remains just a plan and is not yet a live product available to users. Payward explicitly stated that listing depends on regulatory approval. What remains to be seen are the regulatory decisions, the list of contracts offered, and the actual terms for clients. Operating through a regulated entity also does not eliminate the market or leverage risks inherent in perpetual contracts.