Hyperliquid eyes US access through Kraken parent Payward

Hyperliquid Labs is in advanced talks with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to enter the US market through Bitnomial. The plan would avoid an outright purchase of a licensed exchange. Bitnomial would let registered American traders access a subset of crypto perpetual futures tied to Hyperliquid. Payward has sent the structure to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Registered users would trade under US rules with identity checks and a limited menu. The plan would not provide the full offshore order book. Hyperliquid's markets for commodities and pre-IPO names would remain outside the plan. Offshore leverage would also remain unavailable through the reported structure. Hyperliquid's own app would remain geoblocked for Americans. Payward completed its acquisition of Bitnomial on May 1 in a $550 million deal. The deal provided three CFTC licenses. Polymarket paid $112 million for a licensed venue of its own. HYPE reached a record $86.71 on August 27 without a registered US trader on the venue. Hyperliquid routes 99% of protocol and trading fees into HYPE repurchases. Those repurchases have retired $1.3 billion of supply since December 2024. The talks have not disclosed whether Bitnomial trading volume would contribute to that buyback engine. HYPE was priced at $83.57 on Monday. The token was up 7.1% over the week. President Donald Trump said on August 19 that regulators were working to bring Hyperliquid onshore. A CFTC filing does not constitute clearance. Hyperliquid Labs and Payward declined to comment.