Hyperliquid officially announces entry into the U.S. market—is the endgame for Perp DEX compliance here?

Hyperliquid's path into the U.S. market is now largely clear.

Kraken's parent company Payward plans to become the first CFTC-regulated HIP-3* deployer, using Hyperliquid's infrastructure to offer perpetual contract trading to U.S. customers. Hyperliquid's latest announcement disclosed the specific arrangements: Bitnomial will be responsible for deploying and managing markets and for clearing and settling contracts, while NinjaTrader Clearing will be responsible for hosting customer accounts.

Jeff subsequently publicly expressed support for the partnership, calling Kraken a trustworthy exchange that shares the ethos of crypto technology, and saying he looks forward to the two sides bringing Hyperliquid-based onchain derivatives to the United States.

HIP-3*

Readers familiar with Hyperliquid should be no strangers to HIP-3. External teams can use this framework to deploy their own perpetual contract markets on Hyperliquid. HyperCore provides the underlying trading capability, while deployers decide which contracts to list, which oracle to use, and how much leverage to set.

Markets can be operated by different teams while using the same onchain infrastructure underneath.

But to serve U.S. customers, operators also need to solve another set of problems: who is eligible to enter the market, who verifies customer identity, and who handles accounts when risks arise.

Licensed institutions must be able to manage their own customers, rather than simply connecting a wallet as on the main site.

HIP-3* adds a set of optional features on top of the original HIP-3, enabling deployers to operate markets with access requirements. At its core is an onchain whitelist, managed by the deployer or its sub-deployers. Institutions can add eligible wallets to the list after completing customer identity verification, thereby opening trading permissions.

Whether to enable HIP-3* features is decided by the deployer. Hyperliquid officially emphasized that it is an incremental extension of HIP-3, and existing markets remain unchanged. U.S. licensed institutions can use permissioned markets, while other deployers continue to operate in their own way.

This route had already left clues earlier. In August, a deployment named "Kraken HIP-3 test DEX" appeared on the Hyperliquid testnet, with tests covering whitelists, order cancellations, reduce-only orders, and collateral transfers. These features correspond precisely to institutional needs for customer access and account risk control.

Hyperliquid can thus preserve the openness of its infrastructure while providing tools for institutions that need to manage customer identity and trading permissions.

Kraken's Arrangement

Besides Kraken, the announcement also mentioned several less familiar names: Payward, Bitnomial, and NinjaTrader.

Payward is Kraken's parent company and the group entity behind this business arrangement. The entities specifically responsible for U.S. market duties are its subsidiaries Bitnomial and NinjaTrader Clearing.

Bitnomial holds two types of operating licenses: DCM and DCO. The former is a designated contract market, responsible for contract listing, market operations, and trade surveillance; the latter is a derivatives clearing organization, responsible for clearing, margin, and settlement arrangements. According to the latest announcement, if approved, Bitnomial will become an HIP-3* deployer, creating, owning, and managing the relevant markets, and clearing and settling contracts.

NinjaTrader Clearing's role is as an FCM, or futures commission merchant. It handles the customer account side, providing customers with access to the market. It is the operating entity corresponding to accounts, customer funds, and related risk controls.

This is also the value of the Kraken-Hyperliquid partnership. Payward already has customer access and regulated entities, while Hyperliquid already has trading infrastructure that can be called upon. The two sides connect their existing capabilities to jointly organize a perpetual contract business for U.S. customers.

Lighter's Route into the U.S.

Lighter, which is also targeting the U.S. market, has chosen a different organizational approach.

According to plans disclosed at its third-quarter investor meeting, Lighter intends to submit an application to the CFTC in November 2026, seeking both DCM and DCO licenses to advance U.S. business covering perpetual contracts and options.

In other words, Hyperliquid this time has Payward's licensed entities deploy and operate the market, while Lighter plans to establish market operation and clearing qualifications on its own side. Both are advancing onchain trading into the United States, but the licenses and operating responsibilities fall on different entities.

Lighter's choice is related to the partnership business it has already developed.

The Robinhood wallet is a ready example. Users operate within the wallet, while the perpetual contract service behind it is provided by Lighter. In the third quarter, this partnership contributed about 13% of Lighter's total network trading volume. Customers can stay in the app they are familiar with, while the trading service is provided by another company.

Lighter hopes to continue expanding this partnership model. The collaboration directions it listed at the meeting include crypto wallets, centralized exchanges, and financial applications it could connect to after obtaining U.S. licenses in the future. Once it obtains market and clearing qualifications, its target customers can further extend to U.S. retail users, institutions, and partners that need licensed trading services.

For Lighter, applying for licenses and expanding distribution are a mutually reinforcing plan: the former expands the scope of business it can conduct, while the latter lets more customers use its trading services through different entry points.

The partnership between Kraken and Hyperliquid and others may be a landmark event. Once HIP-3* is formally approved for operation, later entrants will have a practical case to evaluate. In the future, traditional financial and technology institutions will also consider building markets through HIP-3* in fields they are familiar with and serving different customers, thereby expanding their own business footprint.