Robinhood Engineers Charged with Misusing Confidential Listing Info for $50,000 Hyperliquid Profits
Two Robinhood engineers, Hefu Chai and Huaisong 'Jerry' Xiang, have been charged with using confidential token-listing information to place profitable crypto derivatives trades on Hyperliquid.
The Federal prosecutors accused the duo of trading perpetual futures tied to tokens they allegedly knew Robinhood Crypto planned to list, earning more than $50,000 each.
The charges extend insider-information enforcement into a part of crypto markets where confidential information held at one company can be monetized through derivatives traded on a separate decentralized platform.
Chai worked at Robinhood from about 2021 until May 2026 and served as a technical lead involved in new digital-asset listings, while Xiang worked as a software engineer from about 2024 through September 2026.
Their positions allegedly gave them access to a private Slack channel containing upcoming listing plans. Both were designated 'Coin Aware Individuals,' employees permitted to receive information about whether and when Robinhood Crypto would make new tokens available.
Prosecutors said Chai traded on at least 10 occasions between 2025 and January 2026, while Xiang allegedly traded around a March 2025 POPCAT listing and on at least 10 other occasions through February 2026.
The government's case centers on the gap between when a token became tradable on Robinhood and when the company publicly announced the listing. Robinhood tokens could begin trading as much as an hour before an announcement, creating a window in which employees with advance knowledge could potentially exit positions before the broader market received the news.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald said, 'Misappropriating confidential information to trade in the derivatives markets for personal benefit is illegal.'