Historical report: Source published November 7, 2026, at 03:46:03 UTC+08:00.
Hyperliquid Strategies is seeking to expand beyond holding HYPE into a regulated brokerage business that could also support activity on the network underpinning its treasury.
According to Decrypt, the Nasdaq-listed company, which trades as PURR and is chaired by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, disclosed in its quarterly results Thursday that a subsidiary had applied to become a futures commission merchant (FCM). An FCM is a CFTC-registered broker that holds customer funds and handles futures orders.
If approved, the subsidiary would carry U.S. client accounts for permissioned markets built on Hyperliquid. The proposal would give Americans a regulated route to perpetual futures—leveraged derivatives without an expiration date—on infrastructure whose existing venue still blocks U.S. users.
How permissioned markets connect to HYPE
Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework allows outside firms to launch perpetual markets on its order book after staking HYPE. A proposed permissioned version, HIP-3*, would allow a regulated deployer to operate markets limited to approved traders, while Hyperliquid serves as neutral infrastructure.
For Hyperliquid Strategies, the proposed brokerage has two potential roles: a business beyond token ownership and a route to greater activity on the protocol. More U.S. trading routed through Hyperliquid would likely generate more protocol fees, and Hyperliquid uses fee revenue to buy back HYPE. That is a potential connection between trading demand and token purchases—not a guaranteed outcome of the application.
“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.”
Treasury growth and its funding
At the end of September, the firm held about 38.5 million HYPE, valued at roughly $3.5 billion. During the quarter, it:
- Spent $785 million buying 9.1 million HYPE.
- Spent $17 million repurchasing 2.7 million of its own shares.
- Raised $911 million through stock sales, which largely funded those purchases.
The company reported $620.6 million in net income, driven almost entirely by $803 million in unrealized gains as HYPE rose from about $65 to $91. Those reported gains reflected changes in the value of its holdings, rather than earnings from the proposed brokerage.
Other firms are pursuing U.S. access
Hyperliquid Strategies was not the only company pursuing this route. Kraken parent Payward had said it planned to deploy HIP-3* markets through its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange, with NinjaTrader Clearing serving as the FCM.
In the week before the source report, NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange agreed to work with Trade[XYZ] to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the U.S. Decrypt reported that the development sent HYPE up 13%. Trade[XYZ] already operated markets on Hyperliquid, including perpetual futures tied to the S&P 500.
The proposed access remained conditional: regulators needed to approve both the subsidiary’s FCM registration and the permissioned HIP-3 markets it would serve. Hyperliquid Strategies had provided no timeline.