Compliance Giant Abandons Self-Built Chain? Kraken Suspected to Test Hyperliquid Permissioned HIP-3, Community Discusses Infrastructure Realism Path

BlockBeats News, August 22, the Hyperliquid testnet recently added whitelist, forced liquidation, collateral transfer, and other compliance and operational controls. A node named "Kraken HIP-3 test DEX" has enabled these permissioned features and whitelisted 10 wallets, while also registering as a "Kraken Exchange Validator."

Although the testnet supports permissionless deployment and ownership cannot be entirely confirmed, combined with Kraken's parent company Payward's layout in xStocks and U.S. derivatives license, the community generally interprets this as a major compliant CEX's first serious adaptation of Hyperliquid's permissioned HIP-3 framework.

What has sparked more discussion is the contrast within this, as Kraken itself has incubated the Ethereum L2 "Ink," yet chose to test the compliance module on Hyperliquid, a high-performance perpetual infrastructure long seen as "not fully compliant."

Analysts believe that this is not simply "abandoning their own chain," but a practical choice: the HIP-3+Star optional module allows CEXs to quickly obtain a validated order book and margin system, while maintaining control over KYC and account-level risk management. Hyperliquid is being repositioned as a neutral underlying trading infrastructure, where the permissioned layer and permissionless layer coexist in isolation. Whoever integrates the compliance module will control the institutional liquidity entry in the next phase. Currently still in the testing phase, neither party has made an official announcement.