Robinhood Employees Charged with Insider Trading on Hyperliquid Contracts

Two former Robinhood employees have been charged by the US Department of Justice for allegedly engaging in insider trading on Hyperliquid perpetual contracts. Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang, also known as Jerry Xiang, worked at Robinhood from 2025 to 2026.

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) claims that the two men had access to confidential information about upcoming token listings on Robinhood Crypto. They allegedly used this information to buy Hyperliquid perpetual contracts tied to the tokens before their public listing announcements.

According to the SDNY, Chai and Xiang made more than $50,000 in profits from these trades. The US Attorney's Office emphasizes that perpetual contracts are considered financial instruments and can be subject to regulation.

A spokesperson for the SDNY quoted Jamie McDonald as saying: 'Enterprise insiders cannot use trading perpetual contracts, tokenized securities or similar financial products to evade applicable securities and commodities market laws.' Chai faces charges in the Northern District of California, while Xiang will face trial in the Southern District of New York.