Hyperliquid Labs is in advanced discussions with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, over a route for bringing some of Hyperliquid’s perpetual futures to U.S. traders. The proposed structure would use Bitnomial, Payward’s U.S. derivatives exchange, rather than making the existing Hyperliquid venue directly available to American customers.
The talks remain unfinished. Any agreement would require regulatory sign-off, and no launch date or final list of contracts has been announced. Payward and Hyperliquid Labs did not publicly confirm the discussions. The people familiar with the matter were not authorized to speak publicly, leaving the proposed structure subject to change as negotiations and regulatory review continue.
A regulated channel for selected contracts
Under the reported plan, eligible U.S. customers would trade a subset of perpetual futures linked to the prices of crypto tokens built on Hyperliquid’s blockchain technology. The products would be offered through Bitnomial’s regulated market infrastructure, with customer access, contract design and trading operations subject to U.S. requirements.
That distinction is important. The proposal is not described as a wholesale opening of Hyperliquid’s existing offshore platform to U.S. persons. It would instead create a separate, regulated channel for selected products. The reported arrangement also does not confirm that Kraken’s consumer platform itself will list Hyperliquid perpetuals.
Why Bitnomial matters
Payward completed its acquisition of Bitnomial in May after announcing the transaction in April. The deal gave Payward control of a U.S. crypto-derivatives stack comprising an exchange, clearinghouse and futures commission merchant, all designed to operate under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight.
Payward has described the infrastructure as a foundation for regulated spot margin, perpetuals and options for eligible U.S. clients. Bitnomial continues to operate within the Payward group, retaining its licensing and regulatory structure. That makes it the logical venue for a partnership that needs U.S. market access without requiring Hyperliquid Labs to build or acquire a complete domestic derivatives platform.
- Reported counterparties: Hyperliquid Labs and Payward.
- Potential venue: Payward-owned Bitnomial.
- Potential products: A selected group of Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures.
- Key condition: Regulatory approval is still required.
What remains unresolved
Hyperliquid is known for fully on-chain perpetual-futures and spot order books, where orders, trades and liquidations are recorded on its Layer 1 blockchain. Its U.S. expansion would therefore test how an on-chain trading ecosystem can be represented through a regulated domestic exchange while preserving a connection to the underlying markets and assets.
The companies have not disclosed commercial terms, the precise mechanism for linking the contracts, or which tokens would be included. It is also unclear whether the products would mirror existing Hyperliquid markets or be created as separate instruments for the U.S. venue. A filing or proposal submitted to regulators would not by itself constitute approval. For now, the development is best understood as an advanced but unconfirmed effort to give Hyperliquid a compliant foothold in the U.S. perpetual-futures market.
