President Donald Trump said the CFTC is working on regulated US market access for the perp exchange Hyperliquid. Chairman Michael Selig leads that effort, the president told the White House crypto summit. The statement comes barely three months after the first CFTC approval of a Bitcoin perpetual contract.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized derivatives exchange for perpetual futures, that is, contracts without an expiry date. No traditional broker sits in between. The platform is regarded as the largest venue in its segment. However, it still operates offshore and outside the jurisdiction of the US futures regulator. The Senate confirmed Selig in December 2025 as the 16th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Before that, he led the SEC Crypto Task Force as chief counsel. In April 2026, he told the House Agriculture Committee he wanted to "onshore" decentralized perp markets such as Hyperliquid. Earlier, Representative Austin Scott (R-GA) had pressed the same committee. Scott wanted the exchange to meet the standards of regulated US futures exchanges. The HYPE token responded to Trump's remarks with a double-digit gain. CoinDesk reported around 11% on Wednesday morning, and the advance widened during the day.
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Selig prepares compliant CFTC market access for Hyperliquid
The White House invited executives from the crypto and technology industry to the summit at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Patrick Witt, the president's crypto adviser, also attended. In addition, Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Robinhood, Polymarket, Kalshi, a16z, Chainlink, Paradigm and the Digital Chamber sent representatives. With Kalshi and Polymarket, two prediction market operators sat at the table. Still, the White House published no official attendee list. The gathering thus brought futures exchanges, prediction market operators and venture capital together in one room.
"As far as I know, Mike [Selig] is also working on bringing Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal way […]" - Donald Trump, US President
The summit also served as the run-up to the first public meeting of the CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee. That session followed on the next day. Crypto, prediction markets and artificial intelligence sit on the agenda. The committee advises the agency on innovation questions. The president's wording therefore matches a position the agency chief had already taken in the spring. It did not sound spontaneous.
KalshiEX approval provides the blueprint for onshoring
Kalshi runs a prediction market in the US as a CFTC-regulated exchange. In late May 2026, the commission approved the BTCPERP contract of KalshiEX LLC. It was the first contract entirely without an expiry date that the CFTC formally cleared for a US exchange. However, the approval went neither to Coinbase nor to Hyperliquid itself. As a result, perpetual contracts on digital commodities gained a framework for the first time. Such contracts trade around the clock and settle the difference to the spot price through periodic funding payments.
On the same day, the responsible division granted Coinbase Financial Markets Inc. a no-action letter. That unit operates as a registered futures commission merchant. Since then it may give institutional US clients access to perpetual contracts on digital commodities at the Deribit exchange. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are among them. Coinbase has owned Deribit since August 2025. In regulatory terms, these positions count as "foreign futures". Consequently, access runs through a registered US intermediary rather than the exchange itself. In effect, both decisions define how an offshore perp market can legally reach US customers.
Two paths emerge for Hyperliquid. One option would be registration as a designated contract market, the other the status of a foreign board of trade. The first would place the exchange under direct US supervision. Both routes, however, demand customer surveillance, reporting duties and a formal supervisory relationship with the agency. After the Kalshi approval, HYPE climbed to a then record high of USD 67.24, according to industry reports. Evidence of a link between the decision and the price move is still missing.
Traditional futures exchanges push for Hyperliquid oversight
Resistance comes from the established futures exchanges. According to reports, ICE and CME Group want the CFTC to force Hyperliquid to register. Both point to stricter customer surveillance and continuous US oversight. Moreover, they warn of manipulation risks for global oil prices, which perpetual contracts can track. Both houses run regulated futures exchanges in the US themselves. Commodity contracts thus touch the price discovery of the markets where they earn their core revenue.
Pushback also comes from the exchange's own camp. The Hyperliquid Policy Center launched in February 2026. The group argues that current US law does not fit derivatives markets on public blockchains. A donation from the Hyper Foundation of 1 million HYPE, roughly USD 29 million, funds the independent non-profit organization. The center also highlights the efficiency and transparency of on-chain order books. How large the platform's lead really is remains disputed. The tracker and the measurement method drive the numbers. Estimates of its share of on-chain perp volume range from 38% to more than 70%. Overall, that spread shows how blurry on-chain volume data remains.
The legal framework is still missing. The CLARITY Act is meant to separate the responsibilities of the SEC and the CFTC for digital assets. In July 2025, the House of Representatives passed it by 294 to 134 votes. Since then, the bill has made no progress in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed in early August. That step would end the debate over merely taking up the bill. The purely procedural vote follows on 15 September 2026. It needs 60 votes, but the Republicans hold only 53 seats. Until lawmakers agree, the agency must base its decisions on existing futures market law.
