Hyperliquid Policy Center

Some people build tools. Others use those tools to offer regulated financial services. Building tools shouldn't trigger registration, and using onchain tools to deliver regulated services shouldn't be off-limits to the firms already registered to provide them. Today we joined @phantom to urge the @CFTC to modernize its rules and unlock innovation for fintech firms and existing registrants alike. Let’s move our markets forward, and onchain. Read our comment here:

Writing the software isn't running the market. The same should hold true onchain. With the right rules, the CFTC can modernize these markets, keep builders in the United States, and give customers more control over their funds. Today, with @phantom, we filed a joint comment letter with the CFTC with recommendations on how to achieve that result. Read it here:

For years, Americans were pushed offshore to trade perpetual futures while the rest of the world could trade them at home. This spring, U.S. regulators finally opened a compliant path to these markets here. Today, the largest U.S. exchange, CME, went to court to close it. This is what happens when one company controls a market. By @BetterMarkets' count, CME runs about 92% of U.S. exchange-traded derivatives. When one venue holds that much volume, everyone else carries the cost. Less choice, higher prices. Perpetual futures are the first genuinely new derivatives product to reach U.S.-regulated markets in over a decade. More competition among exchanges is best for the people who actually use these markets. These products deserve clear rules. The real question is whether Americans get access to innovative new financial products, or whether one incumbent keeps them locked out. We think they deserve access. As CFTC @ChairmanSelig put it: "Incumbents will always fear the future." But none of us should fear the incumbents.

Today we filed a comment with @paradigm on @USTreasury's proposed rule for stablecoin issuers. U.S.-regulated stablecoins power billions of dollars in daily trading, lending, and settlement. Our comment offers recommendations to preserve their critical role in onchain markets.

We welcome today’s CFTC actions: approval of the first U.S.-listed perpetual derivatives contract, an accompanying Commission policy statement on the listing of perpetual derivatives, related interpretive guidance and no-action relief from the Market Participants Division, and a Staff Advisory on 24/7 Trading, Clearing, and Settlement, as a long-overdue acknowledgment that perpetual derivatives are a legitimate and essential tool for price discovery and risk management. For too long, regulatory ambiguity drove these markets offshore, depriving American traders and institutions of access to regulated venues and undermining U.S. competitiveness in the global derivatives markets. Today’s actions chart a new path forward. We look forward to engaging closely with the Commission to ensure that the framework it develops is workable not only for centralized intermediaries, but for the onchain protocols where the most significant perpetuals activity actually occurs.

I spent the past few days in Washington with @hyperliquidpc meeting with policymakers during the historic advancement of the Clarity Act. We discussed Hyperliquid, the benefits that it offers to American consumers, and the regulatory path to bring onchain derivatives markets into the United States. Some conversations were technical with an impressive baseline understanding of Hyperliquid. Discussions included how onchain trading is a financial innovation that has clear global user demand. Other conversations focused more on a first principles introduction to defi and the promise of onchain markets. It was encouraging to see bipartisan support for thoughtful regulation of crypto. I look forward to continuing discussions in DC and working hard to make American access to Hyperliquid a reality.

Today, Bloomberg reported on certain incumbent traditional exchanges raising concerns about the integrity and impact of markets for perpetual derivatives on Hyperliquid. These concerns are unfounded. Hyperliquid offers enhanced market transparency, publishing a complete onchain record of every transaction in real time, making it a uniquely hostile environment for insider trading or price manipulation. Hyperliquid’s transparency serves as a strong deterrent for misconduct and facilitates surveillance, detection, and investigation by regulators and law enforcement. Hyperliquid also offers 24/7 trading, an innovation that substantially increases market efficiency. Prices move whether traditional exchanges are open or not. Continuous trading eliminates gaps and discontinuities between legacy market hours, improving price discovery for all participants. Bloomberg correctly reports that U.S. law is not currently tailored for derivatives markets on public blockchains like Hyperliquid. We look forward to continuing our work with policymakers in Washington to bring onchain markets inside the regulatory perimeter.

The bipartisan passage of the Clarity Act out of the Senate Banking Committee is historic: the first time a comprehensive crypto market structure bill has advanced to the Senate floor. We appreciate all of the effort that went into this success, but more work is needed before the bill is ready to become law. We look forward to engaging on Capitol Hill and with the administration as the process continues.

HPC strongly supports @ChairmanSelig's vision for the future of onchain markets: “I think it’s really critical that we set in place clear regulations and clear statutory protections for software developers, for people who hold their own crypto assets through self-custody or using a custodial wallet, exchanging your assets... That’s what this administration is really focused on.” Clear rules protecting developers and self-custodial users are the foundation of any workable framework for onchain markets.

Read his full statement here: sec.gov/newsroom/speec…

Today, @SECPaulSAtkins laid out his priorities for providing clarity to onchain markets, including this on clearing and settlement: "When settlement is near-instantaneous and counterparty risk is managed algorithmically, the traditional clearing agency model requires fresh analysis." Onchain clearing and settlement is one of the most significant financial infrastructure innovations of our generation. HPC is encouraged to see a Chairman willing to map these systems to existing legal frameworks on their own terms, rather than force them into legacy categories built for legacy architecture.

Prediction markets work better onchain. Our comment letter to the @CFTC explains why, and makes the affirmative case for a pathway for Americans to access decentralized prediction markets. Read about HPC’s submission here:

Today, DEF (@fund_defi) asked the SEC to codify the recent staff guidance on front-end interfaces and wallets through rulemaking. @HyperliquidPC strongly supports that effort. Here's what the statement says and why it matters for Hyperliquid. 🧵

Non-custodial front-end interface providers are not brokers, as the SEC rightly clarified in its excellent Staff Statement on April 13. Today, HPC joined DEF (@fund_defi) and dozens of others in requesting that the SEC formalize that Statement in notice-and-comment rulemaking.

Onchain perpetuals are the next evolution in derivatives markets, but U.S. law provides no pathway for Americans to participate. HPC exists to change that. Read more about our mission to advance new rules for decentralized markets in the United States:

Hyperliquid entered the Congressional record for the first time today. @ChairmanSelig testified before the House Agriculture Committee and received a question about "decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid." He said: "[O]ur goal is always going to be to onshore those markets and to have the markets subject to our regulation here in the United States and accessible to our U.S. persons here in the U.S. ..." We appreciate Chairman Selig's commitment to ensuring Americans can benefit from decentralized markets. It will take some effort to adapt the commodities laws, but we're confident this CFTC and its capable staff are up to the task.