Hyperliquid Pushes for Unified Rules on Perpetual Contracts

The Hyperliquid Policy Center is pushing for unified rules on perpetual contracts, citing regulatory ambiguity and market concerns.

Perpetual contracts have no expiration date and use recurring funding payments to keep the contract price anchored to the underlying asset. This structure has left them in a legal grey area between futures and swaps, leading to disputes over which regulator's registered exchanges are allowed to list a given product.

CME sued the CFTC after the agency granted approval for the first U.S.-listed perpetual contracts offered by Coinbase and Kalshi, arguing that the products should have been treated under the swaps framework rather than classified as ordinary futures. The lawsuit followed the CFTC's May approval of Kalshi's BTCPERP contract.

Hyperliquid processed nearly $3 trillion in notional volume in 2025 and more than $1.5 trillion so far in 2026, with its HIP-3 markets alone generating over $480 billion since launching. The group argues that classification should follow how a product actually functions rather than what it tracks.

The CFTC has focused on where perpetual markets operate and how existing authority can accommodate them domestically, rather than debating whether they exist in the U.S. at all. President Trump said CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a 'fully compliant and legal fashion.'