Why a Hyperliquid Treasury Firm Wants to Become a US Futures Broker

In brief A subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Hyperliquid Strategies has applied to become a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant to carry U.S. client accounts for permissioned Hyperliquid markets. CEO David Schamis called the FCM filing and the firm’s $802 million in quarterly deployment, mostly into HYPE, “the same bet.” The filing joins efforts by Payward and ICE to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the U.S., though regulators must still approve the broker and the markets. Hyperliquid Strategies built its business around holding HYPE. Now it wants to help Americans trade on Hyperliquid, too.The Nasdaq-listed treasury firm, which trades as PURR and is chaired by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, disclosed in its quarterly results Thursday that a subsidiary has applied to become a futures commission merchant, or FCM.That’s the type of CFTC-registered broker that holds customer funds and handles futures orders. If approved, the unit would carry U.S. client accounts for permissioned markets built on Hyperliquid, letting Americans trade perpetual futures within a regulated framework.Perpetual futures are derivatives with no expiration date that let traders take leveraged positions. Hyperliquid, a major onchain venue for them, still blocks U.S. users.Its HIP-3 framework lets outside firms launch their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid’s order book after staking HYPE. A new permissioned version, called HIP-3*, would let a regulated deployer run markets restricted to approved traders, with Hyperliquid acting as neutral infrastructure.“We deployed $802 million this quarter and filed an application to become a futures commission merchant,” CEO David Schamis said. “Those two moves are the same bet.”The firm held about 38.5 million HYPE at the end of September, worth roughly $3.5 billion, and more U.S. trading routed through Hyperliquid would likely mean more fees for the protocol, which uses fee revenue to buy back HYPE. An FCM would also give Hyperliquid Strategies a business of its own beyond holding tokens.During the quarter, the firm spent $785 million buying 9.1 million HYPE and $17 million repurchasing 2.7 million of its own shares, funded largely by $911 million raised through stock sales. It reported $620.6 million in net income, driven almost entirely by $803 million in unrealized gains as HYPE rose from about $65 to $91.It won’t be alone. Kraken parent Payward has said it plans to deploy HIP-3* markets through its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange, with NinjaTrader Clearing serving as the FCM.And last week, NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange agreed to team up with Trade[XYZ] to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the U.S., sending HYPE up 13%. Trade[XYZ] already runs markets on Hyperliquid, including perpetual futures tied to the S&P 500.Regulators must sign off on both the FCM registration and the permissioned HIP-3 markets it would serve, and the company has given no timeline.Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Join 72,000+ readersCreate an account to save your articles.