The path of Hyperliquid and the licensed HIP-3 entering the U.S. must be clearly written out at once.

Written by: Hans

Translated by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

The focus of the formulation of rules for the U.S. crypto market is shifting from Congress to regulatory agencies. This article puts three things within the same framework: where legislation stands still, what it means for HYPE, and how the licensed HIP-3 can connect U.S. customers to Hyperliquid. To understand this path, it is first necessary to clarify one point: Hyperliquid does not necessarily need to register itself; licensed institutions can establish their own markets on top of it.

Legislative Stagnation: Congress Only Passed the Stablecoin Act

The only federal crypto legislation that has truly been enacted is the GENIUS Act targeting payment stablecoins, which is set to take effect in July 2025. The market structure bill, known as the CLARITY Act, originally sought to delineate regulatory boundaries between the SEC and CFTC. It passed the House in July 2025 but ended debate in the Senate on September 15, 2026, with a vote of 49 to 50 and failed to pass. One vote short, the bill did not become law.

Jake Chervinsky at the Hyperliquid Policy Center stated, "We didn't get clarity this week, but we got certainty about the path ahead." The author interprets this as looking towards the CFTC next, rather than the next round of Congressional votes.

Regulatory Transition: SEC and CFTC Paving the Way This Year

On March 17, the SEC and CFTC jointly explained how securities laws apply to crypto assets, replacing the framework introduced by SEC staff in 2019. Digital securities, digital commodities, collectibles, and instruments are defined separately: on-chain stocks, bonds, and fund shares are directly regulated as securities; digital commodities are not regulated as securities; and stablecoins will ultimately depend on the terms.

On May 29, the CFTC approved the first Bitcoin perpetual contract on a U.S. futures exchange. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) filed a lawsuit in June to overturn this approval. Whether perpetual contracts can be made on-exchange in the U.S. is still unresolved.

On August 18, the SEC proposed the Crypto Asset Regulation: token projects may pursue an issuance exemption; the safe harbor stipulates that after the issuer completes or abandons the initially promised work, the token will no longer be treated as an investment contract.

On September 17, three key events occurred. The CFTC’s 26-25 letter allowed front-end applications to direct users to registered U.S. brokers and exchanges without needing to register as introducing brokers, provided they do not hold funds, provide trading signals, or decide order destinations. This extends the exemption previously given only to the wallet Phantom in March to all eligible applications. In July, the Hyperliquid Policy Center and Phantom had requested that this exemption be formalized as a rule applicable to all wallets. On the same day, the SEC approved the innovation exemption, allowing on-chain venues to trade U.S. stocks backed 1:1 by real shares. Also on the same day, the CFTC sent the crypto trading and market rules to the White House, still in the preliminary stage of rule-making, with no public text available. Whether on-chain order books can be recognized as a clearing engine, the author believes, is outlined in this unpublished draft.

On August 19, Trump stated that CFTC Chair Selig is pushing to bring Hyperliquid "onshore in a fully compliant and legal manner." The 26-25 letter covers applications directing users to registered U.S. venues, while Hyperliquid itself is currently not one of these venues. The emerging method does not require it to register: a registered company could deploy its own market on HyperCore, with customers dealt with by that company.

HYPE Positioning: Digital Commodity Logic and Futures Listings

According to the March joint explanation, the value of digital commodities derives from the usable network and supply and demand, not from the team's management; holders have no rights to profits, revenues, or asset claims. The author assesses HYPE based on utility: it pays gas on HyperEVM; stakes to validators to ensure security for HyperBFT consensus; entities deploying HIP-3/4 must lock up 500,000 HYPE as a forfeitable margin; holders have no claims on exchange revenues.

The document specifies 16 types of digital commodities, including BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP. Footnote 51 provides the selection criteria: each must "be a futures contract underlying traded on designated contract markets under CFTC regulation." HYPE did not have such contracts at the time, thus it was not specifically mentioned. This does not imply exclusion but indicates that the named list follows already listed futures.

On May 18, Coinbase derivatives launched HYPE perpetual-style futures under self-certification per CFTC Rule 40.2, opening on June 8, during which it was not halted. Self-certification allows exchanges to list contracts after notifying the CFTC, rather than being a qualitative decision made by the committee. However, this contract was listed as a commodity future. Based on this, the author believes that HYPE has traded as a commodity future on U.S. exchanges.

U.S. Entry Template: Payward Integrating Three Licenses

On September 16, Kraken's parent company Payward announced plans to pursue the licensed HIP-3. The structural breakdown consists of three licensed entities:

• Designated contract market Bitnomial Exchange, which creates, owns, and manages the licensed HIP-3 market;
• Derivative clearing organization Bitnomial Clearinghouse, responsible for clearing and settlement;
• Futures commission merchant NinjaTrader Clearing, responsible for account creation and fund custody.

Only accounts opened through NinjaTrader and simultaneously entered into both the NinjaTrader and Bitnomial whitelist can trade these contracts. This is not an open global order book but a U.S. customer pool within a licensed list. Payward acquired Bitnomial on May 1 this year to obtain licenses for an exchange, clearinghouse, and futures brokerage. Launch dates, rates, and underlying assets are not yet disclosed, as the plan awaits regulatory approval.

Clearing Division of Labor: HyperCore Matching, Licensed Clearinghouse as Backup

How clearing is divided is the most technical and critical part of the entire text. HyperCore has already implemented market watching, margin freezing, and forced liquidation through code. A registered clearinghouse is more likely to serve as the backup: through the modifyBackstopLiquidatorApproval parameter, the deploying party specifies who takes over positions that cannot be force liquidated. Bitnomial Clearinghouse is the natural bearer of the seat and corresponding losses. The author clarifies: this is what he believes to be the most likely outcome, provided that the CFTC recognizes the protocol code as a clearing engine.

Payward is the first company to publicly describe this structure. Other registered exchanges and brokers may follow suit. In each case, the broker’s own app is the most natural front-end; wallets and other trading applications can also direct U.S. users as long as they meet the three restrictions in the 26-25 letter, without needing to become brokers themselves.

Future Observations: Three Factors Determine Implementation Pace

• When HIP-3 goes live on the mainnet;
• Whether Bitnomial is self-certified under Rule 40.2 or goes through approval;
• Whether crypto market rules can pass the White House—whether on-chain order books can serve as a clearing function is detailed in that document.

The author's conclusion is optimistic: most parts of bringing Hyperliquid to the U.S. in a compliant manner are already on the table; HYPE fits the institutional definition of digital commodities and has been traded as commodity futures on U.S. exchanges; licensed entities also have a template—registered exchanges deploying markets, registered brokers dealing with clients, and HyperCore responsible for matching, margin, and forced liquidations. Payward has spoken first; he does not believe it will be the last.

There are still three unresolved issues: whether the CFTC recognizes the protocol code as a clearing engine; whether the CME's challenge to perpetual contracts on U.S. exchanges fails; whether HIP-3 goes live on the mainnet. Under the current administration, with the SEC and CFTC already in the driver’s seat, the author expects a hastening of the process.

These are the path maps of insiders in the ecosystem, not regulatory approvals. The opening of the licensed market does not mean Hyperliquid is automatically legal for U.S. retail without a license. What truly needs to be verified are the still unpublished rules from the White House and whether Bitnomial has listed the contracts.