Hyperliquid Puts HIP-3* on Testnet as Payward Plans US Perpetuals

What the new release changes

Hyperliquid describes HIP-3* as additional deployer functionality for markets that require permissioned participation. Its central feature is an onchain allowlist managed by the deployer or its sub-deployers. That gives an operator a way to control participation within its own deployment. The announcement says the feature is optional and additive to HIP-3.

This matters because the same infrastructure can serve markets whose operators have different access requirements. Hyperliquid says deployers remain independent operators, retain control over their deployments and carry responsibility for them. The protocol provides the infrastructure layer. The announcement does not describe Hyperliquid taking over Payward's proposed exchange or clearing responsibilities.

The initial release is on testnet, where specifications are preliminary and can change following feedback. The future network upgrade would add optional configuration for permissioned markets. Traders watching for an actual product should therefore look for a later mainnet announcement and the operator's own product terms. The release provides a testing milestone; it does not provide instructions for opening a live position in the proposed Payward market.

For users of existing Hyperliquid markets, the most immediate statement is that those markets remain unchanged. The allowlist is a configuration choice for a deployer. The post gives no instruction that existing users must transfer positions, move collateral or join an allowlist because of this announcement. A change to one proposed deployment should be checked at that deployment's level.

The Payward plan began in September

Payward announced its intention to deploy onchain perpetual futures for US clients on September 16, starting with Hyperliquid HIP-3* markets. Its release describes the planned markets as running on Hyperliquid's public blockchain, with the onchain order book matching and recording trades. The October announcement revisits that plan alongside the protocol's new testnet functionality. Payward release Hyperliquid announcement

The distinction in dates prevents a misleading reading of the news. A trader seeing Payward and Hyperliquid together in a fresh headline might assume that a new commercial agreement was announced overnight. The company release establishes that the deployment intention already existed. The current protocol post adds the status of the optional permissioning feature and repeats the planned operator arrangement. Payward release

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Payward calls itself Kraken's parent company. The release identifies different businesses within the planned service, rather than treating the Kraken brand as the legal name for every role. That is useful for an account holder reading future notices: a Kraken-branded news headline does not establish which entity would hold the account or administer the specific contract. The planned roles are laid out in the company's own description.

NexuAlpha's Kraken profile can help readers locate the venue within their broader exchange comparison. For this particular development, use the names Bitnomial and NinjaTrader Clearing when checking the proposed market structure. Those names identify the businesses assigned exchange, clearing and client-account roles in the Payward release. When reading a later notice, compare each of those roles with the entity named in your account documents before assuming the announcement applies to your account.

Who would run the market and hold the account

According to Payward, Bitnomial would create, own and administer the HIP-3* market, then clear and settle the contracts. The company describes Bitnomial Exchange as a designated contract market and Bitnomial Clearinghouse as a derivatives clearing organization. Those are descriptions in the company's release; the proposed onchain contracts are explicitly subject to regulatory approval.

NinjaTrader Clearing would carry the client accounts. Payward describes that business as its registered futures commission merchant. The October Hyperliquid announcement repeats the separation between Bitnomial's deployment and clearing role and NinjaTrader Clearing's account role. A reader should keep the entity names attached to the functions rather than shortening the arrangement to a single exchange logo.

The September release also describes the proposed access conditions. Only accounts onboarded by NinjaTrader and included on both NinjaTrader's and Bitnomial's allowlists could trade. This is the part of the plan that makes the optional protocol allowlist relevant to a customer. The company envisages account onboarding and permissioning as part of access to these particular markets.

That description does not establish that an existing Kraken account, an existing Hyperliquid wallet or an unrelated futures account already satisfies the conditions. When the operator publishes final access terms, compare the exact account relationship with the stated conditions. The documents opened for this report do not publish a completed onboarding process for the proposed service.

What HIP-3 already asks deployers to do

Hyperliquid's HIP-3 documentation assigns the deployer responsibility for market definition, including the oracle definition and contract specifications. It also assigns market operation, including setting oracle prices and leverage limits, and settling a market when needed. These responsibilities explain why the operator matters even when trading uses shared onchain infrastructure. HIP-3 documentation

The documentation says each perpetual DEX has independent margining, order books and deployer settings. For someone comparing two contracts on Hyperliquid infrastructure, the useful comparison is therefore the actual market and its settings. A shared protocol name does not answer which operator defines the oracle or what collateral the specific deployment uses. Those details belong in the market specification.

The same documentation describes a mainnet staking requirement of 500,000 HYPE for HIP-3 deployment, maintained for at least 183 days after the DEX is deployed. These are existing HIP-3 documentation figures, included here to describe the builder framework. They do not establish the final commercial terms, account minimums or funding requirements of Payward's proposed customer product.

Settlement also sits at the deployment level. The documentation says a deployer can use the haltTrading action to cancel orders and settle positions at the current mark price, and can use the same action to resume trading. For a future product comparison, read the operator's contract terms alongside the protocol mechanics. A protocol's available action and the circumstances in which a particular operator would use it are separate reading questions.

What this means for traders

1. An existing Hyperliquid trader should first identify whether a notice concerns the market they already use. The official post says existing markets remain unchanged. Keep a record of the deployment and contract name when reviewing subsequent notices, so that a future permissioned deployment is not confused with a change to an existing position.

2. A US reader interested in the proposed Payward service should look for a product announcement naming the contracts, account provider and opening date. Compare any new account instructions with the September description of NinjaTrader onboarding and the two allowlists. The current documents do not give a token list, live trading schedule, customer fee table or final collateral instructions for this service.

Before using a future deposit screen, verify that it belongs to the account and product named in the operator's instructions. The protocol announcement does not ask customers to send funds to a new address. Its testnet release should not be treated as a funding request. Readers comparing existing venue information can return to the Kraken profile, while keeping the proposed HIP-3* service separate from products already shown in their accounts.

For a contract-level comparison, record the operator, oracle definition, collateral asset and leverage limits once the actual specification is published. HIP-3 documentation makes the deployer responsible for several of these settings. Neither a shared order-book technology nor a parent-company name replaces the specification of the contract being considered.

The next documents that would change the story

The clearest protocol follow-up would be the network-upgrade notice that enables the optional permissioning configuration on mainnet. Hyperliquid says that upgrade is future work and the testnet specifications can change. A mainnet notice would answer a different question from the current test release: whether the infrastructure configuration is available in the live network.

The clearest customer follow-up would come from the intended operator and identify an approved, usable product. Payward's release conditions the proposed onchain perpetual futures on regulatory approval. Neither document opened here gives the final approval decision or a launch calendar. Until those details are published, the confirmed development is the testnet release and the continuing deployment intention.