Nasdaq-listed Hyperliquid Strategies filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to register as a futures commission merchant so it can carry US client accounts for HIP-3 permissioned markets on Hyperliquid, the company disclosed on November 5 in its third-quarter results.
Key takeaways
- Hyperliquid Strategies (Nasdaq: PURR) disclosed the CFTC filing in its Q3 results on November 5, 2026.
- Approval would let the firm hold US client accounts itself, rather than routing through an outside futures commission merchant.
- Payward, Kraken’s parent, became the first CFTC-regulated deployer on HIP-3 markets in late October, using NinjaTrader Clearing as its FCM.
- HIP-3 markets account for about 26.7% of $64.7 billion in 30-day trading volume, a figure the company cites from research findings.
The filing is the latest step in a rapid regulatory build-out around Hyperliquid in the United States. Payward, the parent of crypto exchange Kraken, became the first CFTC-regulated deployer on HIP-3 markets in late October, planning deployments through its Bitnomial subsidiary with NinjaTrader Clearing acting as the futures commission merchant under an allowlist model. Hyperliquid Strategies is pursuing a different path: registering itself so it can hold customer accounts directly.
A futures commission merchant is the regulated middleman of the futures world: it holds customer accounts and handles trades for clients. Registering as one would put the Nasdaq-listed HYPE treasury firm, which trades under the ticker PURR, in the same category as established futures brokers, with the CFTC as its supervisor.
Days before the disclosure, Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to partner with TradeXYZ to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures markets to US traders, with ICE operating exchange and clearing infrastructure and TradeXYZ designing the markets.
Hyperliquid Strategies said in its results that HIP-3 deployer functionalities let independent operators run permissioned markets in a compliant manner while the chain underneath stays a neutral infrastructure layer. “These optional additional features would allow deployers to build and launch permissioned markets on Hyperliquid’s onchain infrastructure,” the company said in its results.
The company cautioned that approval is not guaranteed. “There can be no assurance as to the timing or outcome of the application or regulatory approval of permissioned HIP-3 markets,” Hyperliquid Strategies said.
The commercial stakes are large. Research findings cited in the company’s results put HIP-3 markets at roughly 26.7% of $64.7 billion in trading volume over the past 30 days. Launching a HIP-3 market requires more than 500,000 HYPE tokens, and the framework has been live on Hyperliquid’s mainnet since October 13, 2025.
The quarter that carried the disclosure was itself driven by the token. Hyperliquid Strategies reported $13.3 million in revenue for the quarter ended September 30, above analyst estimates that ranged from $10.6 million to $12 million depending on the data provider. Net income reached $620.6 million, driven by $803 million in unrealized gains on HYPE holdings and partly offset by a $172.3 million income tax provision. The full results are in the company’s third-quarter earnings release.
