Hyperliquid treasury firm seeking U.S. regulatory nod as a domestic futures platform

Hyperliquid Strategies, a publicly traded company that buys and holds HYPE token, is formally seeking to move some trading activity into the U.S. with a pending application to be regulated as a futures commission merchant (FCM), according to a Thursday statement.

"Setting up an FCM is how we intend to help bring markets deployed on Hyperliquid onshore," the company said in the statement in conjunction with its release of quarterly financial results.

The Hyperliquid platform, which has become an overseas giant in the trading of perpetual futures, or “perps,” remains closed to the U.S. customers. It uses its own blockchain and has native token HYPE. Hyperliquid Strategy (PURR), the separate, publicly traded entity, focuses on buying, holding and staking the network's token.

In August, President Donald Trump said that his administration was trying to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. "in a fully compliant and legal fashion" with help from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The president has been seeking to build U.S. perps markets to dominate the field, though that goal has run into some legal objections from the U.S. derivatives industry even as the CFTC has been opening the gates.

Hyperliquid Strategies has applied for FCM status for a subsidiary, HypeStrat Markets, through the National Futures Association — an industry-run organization that polices registration for FCMs that are overseen by the CFTC. The August application is still pending, according to NFA records. The company said it intends to offer this activity on HIP-3, its framework that would run on top of Hyperliquid's "neutral infrastructure layer."

"Subject to regulatory approval, the FCM would carry U.S. client accounts for permissioned markets deployed on Hyperliquid under HIP-3, allowing HSI [Hyperliquid Strategy] to play a role in bringing perpetual futures to U.S. customers within a regulated framework," the company said.

"There can be no assurance as to the timing or outcome of the application or regulatory approval of permissioned HIP-3 markets," the statement added.