Hyperliquid Strategies is seeking to turn its exposure to HYPE into an operating business tied to U.S. derivatives trading. The Nasdaq-listed treasury firm, which trades under PURR, disclosed in quarterly results that a subsidiary had applied to become a futures commission merchant (FCM).
As reported by Decrypt on November 7, 2026, at 03:46:03 UTC+8, the application remained subject to regulatory approval, with no timeline provided. The proposed business would carry U.S. customer accounts for permissioned markets built on Hyperliquid—not open unrestricted access to its existing venue.
From token treasury to regulated intermediary
An FCM is a CFTC-registered broker that holds customer funds and handles futures orders. If approved, the subsidiary would allow Americans to trade perpetual futures through a regulated framework. These derivatives have no expiration date and allow leveraged positions; Hyperliquid’s existing onchain venue still blocks U.S. users.
The distinction rests on two versions of Hyperliquid’s market framework:
- HIP-3 lets outside firms launch perpetual markets on Hyperliquid’s order book after staking HYPE.
- HIP-3*, a new permissioned version, would let a regulated deployer operate markets restricted to approved traders, with Hyperliquid serving as neutral infrastructure.
For Hyperliquid Strategies, chaired by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, a brokerage operation would create a business beyond holding tokens. It would also connect the firm’s commercial ambitions to the infrastructure underlying its treasury asset.
“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 treasury exposure behind the strategy
At the end of September, the firm held approximately 38.5 million HYPE, worth roughly $3.5 billion. More U.S. trading routed through Hyperliquid would likely generate additional protocol fees; Hyperliquid uses fee revenue to buy back HYPE. That potential connection is not evidence that the proposed U.S. markets have launched or attracted trading activity.
During the quarter, Hyperliquid Strategies:
- 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 results therefore primarily reflected changes in its token holdings’ value, rather than earnings from the proposed brokerage business.
Other firms are pursuing the same market structure
Hyperliquid Strategies is not the only participant pursuing regulated U.S. access to Hyperliquid-based markets. Kraken parent Payward said it planned to deploy HIP-3* markets through its CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange, with NinjaTrader Clearing acting as the FCM.
In the week before the report, NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange agreed to work with Trade[XYZ] to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the U.S., sending HYPE up 13%. Trade[XYZ] already operates markets on Hyperliquid, including perpetual futures linked to the S&P 500.
The proposed use case is regulated access to onchain derivatives infrastructure. The unresolved constraint is approval: regulators must sign off on both Hyperliquid Strategies’ FCM registration and the permissioned HIP-3 markets it would serve. The application and other firms’ plans establish commercial interest, not a completed U.S. rollout.
