Hyperliquid Strategies Files August FCM Bid to Serve US Traders on Hyperliquid (HYPE)

HypeStrat Markets Files for FCM Registration

Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ: PURR), the largest publicly traded Hyperliquid (HYPE) treasury company, has applied to register a subsidiary as a US futures commission merchant (FCM), the regulated intermediary that holds customer funds and handles futures orders. The filing, disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday, covers subsidiary HypeStrat Markets and would let the firm carry US client accounts for permissioned markets deployed on the network under HIP-3, the planned upgrade that pairs licensed market operators with onchain settlement of perpetual futures. Registration is policed by the National Futures Association, an industry-run body acting under Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversight. The company says building an FCM is how it intends to bring markets deployed on Hyperliquid onshore, while cautioning that neither the application's timing nor its outcome is assured. The platform itself stays closed to US customers, and the HYPE price slipped 7.6% over the past 24 hours, leaving the Hyperliquid ecosystem offshore in regulatory terms.

A $620.6M Quarter Built on Paper Gains

The September quarter results explain why PURR shareholders watch the registration as closely as the token. Net profit reached $620.6 million, but $803 million of it is unrealized gains on the HYPE position, so a market decline would cut reported income without a single trade. Recurring revenue runs far smaller: $12.3 million from staking and validator commissions and $1.0 million in interest, against $7.6 million in expenses. The release quantifies no FCM revenue at all. Capital deployment stayed aggressive: the company raised $911 million in equity during the quarter and spent $785 million buying 9.1 million HYPE, lifting holdings to 38.9 million tokens by October 28 at an average cost of $56.35. CEO David Schamis framed the buying and the registration bid as one strategy, calling the two moves the same bet. The company's own risk disclosures note that PURR's stock is highly correlated with HYPE, which may fall.

NFA Filing Still Pending

National Futures Association records show the application for HypeStrat Markets was lodged in August and remains pending. If approved, the FCM would carry US client accounts for permissioned markets deployed on Hyperliquid, putting crypto futures within reach of US customers inside a regulated framework. The bid intersects with White House policy: in August, President Donald Trump said his administration was working to bring Hyperliquid onshore in a fully compliant and legal fashion, with the CFTC's help. The company's statement adds a second caveat: approval of the permissioned HIP-3 markets themselves carries no assurance either. How those markets would fit a US legal perimeter is not spelled out anywhere in the release.

Midterms Shift Congress, Not the CFTC Track

The political backdrop sharpened this week. Democrats took both chambers in the November 3 midterms, and Senator Elizabeth Warren called perpetual futures markets “24-hour gambling” the same day, feeding concern that new digital asset legislation will stall. The next Congress convenes on January 3, which leaves existing CFTC policy running in the meantime. On November 3, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said in an official statement that stock perpetual contracts on individual equities can begin trading, limited to exchanges also registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That route runs through existing law rather than a fresh statute, so product approvals and intermediary registrations proceed on a separate track from Congress. The company's release does not mention onchain venues, leaving how permissioned markets fit that framework an open question.

What Approval Changes

The filing hedges the treasury in both directions. A $620.6 million paper profit rides an offshore token that no commission can block but that falls with the market; a registered FCM would add a revenue line built to survive a drawdown. Sequencing favors the company: existing CFTC authority keeps the door open even if a Democratic Congress slows legislation, and Selig's statement shows product approvals moving now, days after the first US equity perpetuals cleared for US venues. Jurisdiction remains the unresolved gap, since permissioned HIP-3 markets have no stated home in the SEC-registered framework. On-chain selling adds pressure too, with a16z-linked wallets' 233,000 HYPE exchange deposits since October 30 tracked in recent wallet flows. Until the National Futures Association rules on HypeStrat Markets, PURR shareholders carry the token risk either way.