Hyperliquid in focus as CFTC chair says, ‘We plan to onshore markets’

The U.S. Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) has pledged clear rules to bring popular perpetual decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid onshore. 

During a recent hearing with the House Agriculture Committee, CFTC Chair Mike Selig was asked about the growing popularity and risk of offshore DEX platforms such as Hyperliquid for oil trades. 

In response, Selig said, 

Our goal is always going to be to onshore those markets and to have the markets subject to our regulation here in the United States and accessible to our U.S. persons here in the U.S.

Interestingly, as a new financial product, Hyperliquid has always known that regulatory scrutiny would eventually catch up with it. 

In fact, that’s why it formed the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC), to lobby and ensure a pro-DeFi regulation of any proposed rules for decentralized perpetual exchanges. 

Reacting to Selig’s statement, the HPC said, 

We appreciate Chairman Selig’s commitment to ensuring Americans can benefit from decentralized markets. It will take some effort to adapt the commodities laws, but we’re confident this CFTC and its capable staff are up to the task.

In other words, it was hedging against any potential regulatory risk by actively shaping the policy around the sub-sector. 

Bullish bets on HYPE surge

So far, U.S. citizens are restricted from using Hyperliquid. But some market watchers believe that clear rules, as proposed by Selig, could unlock the U.S. market and accelerate Hyperliquid’s traction. 

That said, the platform has seen a significant surge in trading activity during the West Asia crisis. Especially for non-crypto assets such as oil, gold, silver, and stocks, also known as HIP-3 markets. 

But it has expanded to prediction markets and Options trading. With the growing push for regulatory clarity and trading activity, traders have been overly bullish on HYPE, the platform’s native token. 

On Friday, on-chain data showed a whale added $25.9 million exposure to HYPE, bringing its overall holdings to $180.5 million. 

Meanwhile, HYPE has stalled below $45 after a 31% surge in the first half of April.

The $123 million capital outflows (yellow bars) this week suggested profit-taking and a short-term cool-off in trading activity. If the outflows extend into next week, the altcoin could give back recent recovery gains. 

Final Summary

• CTFC’s chair Mike Selig said the agency is planning to ‘onshore’ markets and decentralized perpetual platforms such as Hyperliquid 
• A key player added $26 million in exposure, bringing total HYPE holdings to $180.5 million, as bullish bets surge despite price stalling at $45.