CME Group IncCME sued CFTC over perpetual contract regulation; unified rules could affect its competitive position.
The Hyperliquid Policy Center, a policy advocacy group for Hyperliquid, submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on August 24, calling for the adoption of a unified classification framework for perpetual contracts. The letter responds to a joint request for comment issued by the two commissions in June on the definitions of swaps and security-based swaps, and argues that whether a perpetual contract is a future or a swap should be determined by the contract's economic structure and trading mechanics, not by the reference asset. If a contract has the characteristics of a future—standardization, fungibility, future delivery, and offset by opposite trades—it should be treated the same whether it references bitcoin, crude oil, or individual stocks. As the market has grown without a settled classification, activity has flowed offshore, and CFTC Acting Chairman Michael Selig has said the question is whether it will exist under U.S. oversight and standards. President Donald Trump said at the White House on the 19th that Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and lawful manner, and the native token HYPE rose sharply afterward. Hyperliquid has accumulated $480 billion in trading volume and about $4 billion in open interest in the HIP-3 market alone over ten months. CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange are seeking to bring it under regulation, citing price manipulation risk, and CME sued the CFTC in June. In Japan, the revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act was enacted in July, classifying crypto assets as financial instruments under the law, but industry self-regulation limits leverage for retail investors to two times, and perpetual contracts referencing stocks or crude oil are not offered. If the United States resolves the classification issue, it could also influence domestic regulatory design in Japan.
CME Group IncCME sued CFTC over perpetual contract regulation; unified rules could affect its competitive position.
Intercontinental Exchange IncICE seeks to bring Hyperliquid under regulation; unified rules could impact its market.