Kraken’s Parent Company Plans US Perpetual Futures Trading on Hyperliquid

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has announced plans to bring onchain perpetual futures trading to US clients through the Hyperliquid blockchain network, pending regulatory sign off.

What The Deal Involves

The company intends to launch through Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, which lets outside firms build and run their own permissioned perpetual futures markets. Any new contracts would fall under Bitnomial Exchange, a CFTC regulated venue that Payward acquired earlier this year for $550 million. Bitnomial would handle market creation and clearing, while NinjaTrader Clearing, bought by Payward for $1.5 billion, would manage client accounts. US traders would need approved accounts across both firms before gaining access.

Perpetual futures let traders bet on crypto price moves without owning the underlying asset, and unlike standard futures, these contracts never expire. The global market is massive over $85 trillion in perpetuals changed hands last year, with Hyperliquid’s decentralized exchange handling roughly 9% of worldwide open positions.

Payward’s head of US derivatives said the setup would let clients trade through the company’s existing regulated broker while settlement happens on Hyperliquid itself. No launch date, fee structure, or revenue sharing terms have been disclosed yet.