Hyperliquid Treasury Seeks US Futures Broker License

Treasury Firm Pursues U.S. Futures Market Access via Hyperliquid Platform

Hyperliquid Strategies, a Nasdaq-listed treasury firm that has built its business around holding the HYPE token, is now seeking to enable American traders to participate in markets on the Hyperliquid platform. The company, which trades as PURR and is chaired by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, revealed in its quarterly results on Thursday that a subsidiary has submitted an application to become a futures commission merchant (FCM).

Navigating Regulatory Pathways for U.S. Traders

An FCM is a broker registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) responsible for holding customer funds and processing futures orders. If approved, this unit would manage U.S. client accounts for permissioned markets established on Hyperliquid, thereby allowing Americans to trade perpetual futures within a regulated environment. Perpetual futures are a type of derivative contract that does not have an expiration date, enabling traders to establish leveraged positions. Hyperliquid, a prominent on-chain venue for these instruments, currently restricts access to U.S. users.

Framework for Permissioned Markets

Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework allows external firms to launch their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid’s order book by staking HYPE. A new iteration, known as HIP-3*, is designed to permit a regulated deployer to operate markets restricted to approved traders, with Hyperliquid functioning as neutral infrastructure.

Strategic Investment and Business Expansion

“We deployed $802 million this quarter and filed an application to become a futures commission merchant,” stated CEO David Schamis. “Those two moves represent the same strategic bet.” As of the end of September, the firm held approximately 38.5 million HYPE tokens, valued at roughly $3.5 billion. Increased U.S. trading activity routed through Hyperliquid is anticipated to generate more fees for the protocol, which utilizes fee revenue for HYPE buybacks. The establishment of an FCM would also provide Hyperliquid Strategies with a distinct business line beyond its token holdings.

Financial Performance and Token Buybacks

During the quarter, Hyperliquid Strategies allocated $785 million to purchasing 9.1 million HYPE tokens and $17 million to repurchasing 2.7 million of its own shares. These expenditures were largely financed by $911 million raised through stock sales. The company reported $620.6 million in net income, primarily driven by $803 million in unrealized gains resulting from HYPE’s price appreciation from approximately $65 to $91.

Industry Trend Towards Regulated Futures Trading

Hyperliquid Strategies is not alone in pursuing this direction. Kraken’s parent company, Payward, has announced plans to deploy HIP-3* markets through its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange, with NinjaTrader Clearing acting as the FCM. Furthermore, last week, Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the NYSE, agreed to collaborate with Trade[XYZ] to introduce Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the U.S. market, a development that saw HYPE surge by 13%. Trade[XYZ] currently operates markets on Hyperliquid, including perpetual futures linked to the S&P 500.

Regulatory Approval Pending

The company’s plans are contingent on regulatory approval for both the FCM registration and the permissioned HIP-3 markets it would serve. No specific timeline has been provided by the company.