Trump's Hyperliquid Onshoring Push Hits Snag Over North Korean Funds

US regulators are investigating Hyperliquid, an offshore derivatives exchange, after blockchain analysis revealed that North Korean hackers laundered over $30 million in Bitcoin through the platform.

The discovery comes as President Trump and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) push to bring Hyperliquid under US regulations, a move that has sparked controversy among DeFi advocates who argue that permissionless platforms can't be fully regulated without compromising their decentralized nature.

Hyperliquid Labs is in talks with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, to offer US-registered traders access to perpetual futures via Bitnomial, a CFTC-regulated clearinghouse. However, this proposal still wouldn't make Hyperliquid available to US users, and the platform's architecture would need to be modified to screen or block Lazarus-linked wallets.

The North Korean regime has been accused of stealing around $2 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025 alone, with funds allegedly used to fund its weapons programs. The recent transfer highlights the challenges regulators face in policing decentralized platforms that prioritize user anonymity and liquidity.