Hyperliquid Tests Permissioned Markets for Payward's US Perps Plan

Hyperliquid has released a testnet version of HIP-3*, an optional permissioning feature intended to support Kraken parent Payward's plan to offer U.S. clients perpetual futures on its infrastructure.

The feature would let market deployers or their sub-deployers manage an onchain allowlist, controlling which accounts can participate in an opted-in deployment. “Existing markets remain unchanged,” Hyperliquid said in its Oct. 26 statement.

Hyperliquid said Payward intends to be the first Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated deployer on HIP-3* markets. The proposed U.S. offering remains subject to regulatory approval.

HIP-3 already allows independent builders to define and operate perpetual markets on Hyperliquid, including setting price feeds and leverage limits. Each deployment has independent margining and order books. HIP-3* adds an optional access restriction to that framework, rather than requiring existing markets to adopt it.

The builder-market framework already supports trading beyond crypto. As The Defiant reported in July, HIP-3 markets tracking stocks, commodities and indices exceeded native crypto perpetuals volume on several weekdays that month.

How the US Offering Would Work

Payward set out its plan in a Sept. 16 release. Bitnomial would create, own and administer the HIP-3* markets and clear and settle the contracts. Its exchange is a CFTC-designated contract market and its clearinghouse is a registered derivatives clearing organization.

NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward's CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, would carry customer accounts. Payward said only accounts onboarded by NinjaTrader and included on both NinjaTrader's and Bitnomial's allowlists could trade.

Hyperliquid's onchain order book would match and record the trades, while Payward's entities would hold the regulatory obligations. For customers, the proposed route to these new contracts would run through a broker account and the operators' allowlists.

Production support for permissioned deployments is planned for a future network upgrade. Hyperliquid said testnet specifications are preliminary and could change with feedback.