Payward, the parent company of Kraken crypto exchange, has announced plans to launch onchain perpetual futures markets. This market is being launched specifically for US clients. The markets will be offered via Hyperliquid. Payward has announced this news officially on its X account.

Payward 🤝 @HyperliquidX

We’re building permissioned Hyperliquid HIP-3* markets for US clients. pic.twitter.com/D9WwRgVaK0

— Payward (@Payward) September 16, 2026

Payward Plans Permissioned Perpetual Markets on Hyperliquid

The rollout would initially focus on permissioned markets using Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 builder-deployed perpetual framework. The planned launch would make Payward the first registered US exchange to deploy markets through Hyperliquid’s builder-deployed perpetuals system. According to DeFiLlama data, Hyperliquid has processed more than $200 billion in trading volume over the past 30 days alone.

Under the proposed structure, the perpetual futures markets would operate on Hyperliquid’s public blockchain. Its on-chain order book would match and record trades, while Bitnomial, Payward’s CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse, would serve as the HIP-3 deployer.

Bitnomial would create, own, and administer the markets while also managing the settlement of the contracts. Meanwhile, NinjaTrader Clearing, Payward’s CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, would maintain the client accounts.

It is pertinent to note that users will need to be onboarded by NinjaTrader and appear on both NinjaTrader’s and Bitnomial’s allowlists before they could trade the contracts.

Launch Remains Subject to Regulatory Approval

The proposed offering remains subject to regulatory approval. Perpetual futures have been widely traded outside the United States, with more than $85 trillion in global trading volume recorded in 2025, according to CoinGecko data cited by Payward.

In its announcement, Payward said the initiative is intended to expand the range of derivatives available to the US clients. Payward also described Hyperliquid as the first protocol in its planned expansion, with additional products expected to follow on similar open infrastructure.

Payward operates businesses including Kraken, NinjaTrader, and xStocks. The company reported 6.6 million funded accounts as of June 30, 2026. Moreover, it claims that its client assets remained backed above 100% under its Proof of Reserves system.