Trump Signals Onshore Approval as CFTC Works to Bring $200B Hyperliquid Venue to the US
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working to bring Hyperliquid, a $200B on-chain venue, to the US in a fully compliant and legal way. According to President Donald Trump, CFTC Chair Michael Selig is leading this effort. Hyperliquid currently keeps US persons off its platform due to regulatory requirements.
Hyperliquid processed over $114 billion of perpetual futures trading volume in August and has an open interest above $10 billion. The venue's cumulative perpetual volume has crossed $5 trillion, generating close to $50 million in protocol fees every month.
CFTC Chair Selig said that if the CLARITY Act stalls in Congress, the agency will use its existing authority to build a crypto market regime on its own. He directed staff to explore rules for designating current registrants and non-registrant crypto exchanges as a type of designated contract market called a crypto asset market.
This would allow leveraged or margined crypto trading under specific rules built for that purpose. Selig emphasized the importance of engaging directly with developers of on-chain finance protocols to find legal, compliant ways to offer those protocols inside the US.