• Trump's August 2026 comments point to CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, not new legislation, as the vehicle for Hyperliquid's U.S. entry.
• The reported structure routes Hyperliquid perpetuals through Kraken parent Payward's CFTC-regulated Bitnomial exchange, addressing the "no central operator" compliance gap.
• The CFTC has precedent: it cleared bitcoin perpetual futures for Kalshi and Coinbase in May 2026, and Coinbase filed for equity-perpetuals registration on Sept. 3, 2026.
• CME CEO Terrence Duffy and reform advocates are pushing back, framing crypto perpetuals as a systemic risk rather than a compliance win.
• Former SEC counsel Ashley Ebersole's 10-12 month estimate means a U.S. Hyperliquid product is unlikely before mid-2027.

President Trump said in August 2026 that CFTC Chairman Mike Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States "in a fully compliant and legal fashion," according to The Block, which did not specify the exact date of the remark. The mechanism now taking shape, per Bloomberg reporting carried by The Block, is not new legislation: it is routing a subset of Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures through Bitnomial, the CFTC-regulated exchange owned by Kraken parent Payward — giving regulators a licensed, accountable intermediary to hold responsible for a protocol that has none of its own. Former SEC senior counsel Ashley Ebersole estimated the process could still take 10 to 12 months even on an expedited timeline.

The compliance gap Hyperliquid has to close

Hyperliquid runs as a decentralized exchange for crypto perpetual futures with no central operator — anyone with an internet connection can trade on it. That design is precisely what has kept U.S. regulators away: without an accountable entity to hold responsible for market-manipulation surveillance and sanctions-screening controls, neither the CFTC nor the SEC has had a compliance framework to attach to. Reported plans to bring Hyperliquid onshore all center on inserting exactly that missing accountable party.

The proposed structure: Kraken, Payward, Bitnomial

Per Bloomberg reporting carried by The Block, Kraken's parent company Payward has presented the CFTC with a proposal in which its subsidiary Bitnomial — a CFTC-regulated U.S. digital-asset exchange and clearinghouse — would give its registered users access to a subset of Hyperliquid-linked perpetual futures. Routing trades through Bitnomial's existing registration gives the CFTC a licensed, U.S.-based intermediary to hold accountable, rather than the offshore, operator-less Hyperliquid protocol itself.

The CFTC already has a template for this

This wouldn't be the CFTC's first crypto-perpetuals approval. The agency cleared bitcoin perpetual futures for Kalshi and Coinbase in May 2026, per The Block, establishing that crypto-linked perpetual contracts can clear U.S. commodities review under the existing framework. Coinbase separately filed with the SEC on Sept. 3, 2026 to register equity perpetuals — a sign both agencies are actively working perpetual-futures product structures, not just Hyperliquid's.

Not everyone reads this as progress

The push has drawn pointed criticism. CME Group CEO Terrence Duffy has called crypto perpetuals "a disaster waiting to happen," per The Block. Mark Hays, associate director for cryptocurrency and financial technology at Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress, has separately criticized the administration's broader approach to crypto oversight, per The Block. The Hyperliquid Policy Center, by contrast, has urged the SEC and CFTC to harmonize their rules rather than issue conflicting requirements, per The Block.

Timeline: don't expect this fast

Ashley Ebersole, a former senior SEC counsel now chief legal officer at a trading platform, estimated the regulatory process could take 10 to 12 months even under an expedited review, per The Block. Both the CFTC and SEC would likely need to revise interpretive guidance on custody and order-routing standards before any U.S. Hyperliquid product could list — putting a realistic launch window at mid-2027 at the earliest.

Why this matters beyond one token

If the Payward-Bitnomial structure clears, it sets a reusable template: a regulated U.S. intermediary licenses onshore access to an offshore, operator-less DeFi protocol's order flow, rather than the protocol itself seeking U.S. registration. That's a meaningfully different regulatory posture than either banning permissionless derivatives platforms outright or forcing them to relinquish their architecture — and other DeFi protocols eyeing U.S. market access will be watching whether it holds up under CFTC and SEC review.