Hyperliquid Policy Center said on Aug. 27 that perpetual contracts should be a central part of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s innovation agenda.
The group said it submitted a statement for the first meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee on Aug. 20. In that filing, Hyperliquid Policy Center said perpetuals are moving beyond digital asset markets and expanding into traditional asset classes including equities and commodities, while demand for the product among U.S. market participants is increasing.
How Hyperliquid framed the use case for perpetuals
According to the statement, perpetual contracts can serve the risk-management needs of different types of market participants, especially where exposures are ongoing and do not have a clear maturity date.
- Airlines could use them to hedge fuel costs.
- Investment funds could use them to manage portfolio exposure.
- AI developers could use them to manage computing cost exposure.
Compared with futures that have fixed expiries, perpetuals do not require contract rolls and do not involve expiration or delivery. Hyperliquid Policy Center said periodic funding rates allow the contracts to remain anchored to the underlying asset.
Platform figures cited by the policy group
The group said that on Hyperliquid, perpetual contracts deployed by third-party developers now cover more than 80 traditional commodity and equity markets. It added that cumulative notional trading volume has exceeded $500 billion.
CFTC actions highlighted in the statement
Hyperliquid Policy Center said the CFTC has already taken several steps this year to support the launch of perpetual markets in the United States.
In May, the CFTC approved the first perpetual futures contract listed in the U.S. and issued a policy statement on perpetual contract listings as well as guidance on continuous trading. In June, the regulator sought public comment on expanding perpetual contracts to energy commodities and also opened consultation on compute derivatives.
On-chain infrastructure was part of the same policy pitch
Beyond perpetuals themselves, Hyperliquid Policy Center said on-chain infrastructure could also help modernize U.S. derivatives markets under the existing regulatory framework.
The group said public blockchains can create transparent records of markets, orders and positions, carry out ongoing margin assessments programmatically, and enable real-time collateral transfers. In its view, that can reduce counterparty credit risk and settlement risk.
Hyperliquid Policy Center said it will continue to provide research and technical materials to the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee and commission staff, while pushing for a path that would let U.S. market participants access on-chain markets in a compliant way.
The group said perpetual contracts are one of the most representative financial innovations of the past decade and should continue to develop in the U.S. market.