@HyperliquidX controls roughly 70% of onchain perpetual futures volume, making it the clear category leader among decentralized derivatives venues. Yet it does not serve US users. Its policy
@HyperliquidX controls roughly 70% of onchain perpetual futures volume, making it the clear category leader among decentralized derivatives venues. Yet it does not serve US users. Its policy arm, @HyperliquidPC, filed a joint comment letter with wallet maker Phantom in July, asking the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to clarify how existing rules apply to onchain software developers. The goal is to open the US market without waiting on stalled congressional action.
The firms asked the CFTC to take three concrete steps: confirm that writing onchain protocol software alone does not trigger exchange or clearinghouse registration requirements; issue guidance allowing the commission's own registered markets to use onchain infrastructure for execution, clearing, and settlement; and formalize the no-action relief the CFTC granted to Phantom in March 2026 as a binding rule.
The filing, submitted July 9 in response to the agency's request for information on financial technology, argues that regulators should adapt derivatives rules for decentralized infrastructure rather than apply frameworks built for custodial intermediaries. @HyperliquidPC CEO Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) is pushing for a favorable reading of existing rules rather than waiting on Congress to act.
That approach is not without opposition. CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have separately urged the CFTC and Capitol Hill officials to require Hyperliquid to register as a swap execution facility or contract market, arguing the platform's anonymous, round-the-clock trading could enable market manipulation and sanctions evasion.
The lobbying push reflects how little Hyperliquid can rely on the legislative calendar. The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a 294-134 vote, but Senate negotiations collapsed before the August recess. On August 8, 2026, Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill, a move that kept the legislation alive and set up a first procedural vote for September 15. Without that filing, the bill would likely have been declared dead for 2026. Remaining sticking points include ethics clauses, illicit-finance provisions, and how to handle stablecoin rewards.
The commercial case for regulatory clarity is significant. Roughly 32% of Hyperliquid's second-quarter volume was tied to stocks and other real-world assets, a segment that straddles both CFTC and SEC jurisdiction and that US users cannot currently access on the platform. That jurisdictional complexity, spanning commodities, equities, and crypto derivatives, is precisely what makes a clear regulatory framework both valuable and difficult to achieve.
Sources:Unchained Crypto: Phantom and Hyperliquid Ask CFTC to Exempt DeFi Software From Broker RulesCoinDesk: US Senate Opens First Stage of Clarity Act VotingCoinDesk: CME and ICE Push US Regulators to Scrutinize Hyperliquid
