Key points
- Bloomberg reports Hyperliquid is in advanced talks with Kraken parent Payward on US entry through Bitnomial.
- Payward has already presented a proposed structure to the CFTC, per the report. No deal is announced.
- HYPE rose almost 5% past $84, and Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) gained 2.3% on Nasdaq.
Bloomberg reported Monday that Hyperliquid Labs is in advanced talks with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to bring some of its perpetual futures to US traders through Bitnomial, Payward's CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange. Hyperliquid's HYPE token rose past $84 after the report, and Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), the Nasdaq-listed company that holds HYPE in its treasury, gained more than 2%.
According to Bloomberg, Payward has already presented the CFTC with a proposed structure that would let registered US users trade a subset of crypto-linked futures tied to Hyperliquid's blockchain. Neither company has announced an agreement, and the talks could still fall apart.
Hyperliquid runs a decentralized exchange that handles more than $4 billion in daily trading volume, per Bloomberg, but it has never served US customers. Its main product is perpetual futures, contracts with no expiry date that track an asset's price. The platform also runs weekend markets in tokenized stocks, where SK Hynix out-trades every US name, and its order books stay open when Nasdaq and the NYSE are closed.
The rails for a US entry already exist. Payward closed its purchase of Bitnomial on May 1 in a deal worth up to $550 million, and with it acquired the full set of US derivatives licenses, an exchange, a clearinghouse, and a brokerage. Kraken used that stack to launch CFTC-regulated perpetual futures for US clients on June 15, starting with bitcoin, ether, and solana.
The political runway is also there. President Donald Trump said at the White House on August 19 that CFTC chairman Michael Cellik was working to bring Hyperliquid into the US in a fully compliant way, and HYPE hit a record $77.55 two days later. CFTC Innovation Task Force records show Hyperliquid Labs met the regulator on July 15, a day after meeting the SEC's Crypto Task Force. On August 24, the Hyperliquid Policy Center formally asked both agencies to harmonize their rules for perpetual contracts.
As of 1:40 p.m. ET Monday, HYPE traded near $84.28, up 4.8% from the prior day and above that August 21 high. Hyperliquid Strategies traded at $11.88, up 2.3% from Friday's $11.61 close.
Bloomberg's report says an approved structure could also open a path for other offshore decentralized trading platforms to reach US customers through regulated intermediaries. The CFTC approved its first perpetual contract tied to the spot price of bitcoin in May.
