Payward plans to offer U.S. clients onchain perpetual futures on Hyperliquid

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has announced plans to offer U.S. clients access to onchain perpetual futures markets via the Hyperliquid blockchain. The initiative utilizes Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, which enables third parties to deploy permissioned perpetual futures markets while maintaining onchain trade matching and recordkeeping. These contracts would be listed under the regulatory oversight of Bitnomial Exchange, a designated contract market regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). To participate, U.S. clients must maintain futures accounts with NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward’s registered futures commission merchant. This proposal represents a significant effort to integrate popular, historically offshore perpetual trading products into a regulated U.S. financial structure. By leveraging Hyperliquid’s public blockchain for settlement, the move aims to bridge decentralized infrastructure with institutional compliance standards. The success of this model depends on pending regulatory approval, as perpetual futures have largely remained outside the scope of U.S. regulated markets since their inception.