On August 24, 2026, the Hyperliquid Policy Council filed a formal comment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, urging both agencies to create a harmonized regulatory framework for perpetual futures contracts. Hyperliquid, a major platform in this market segment, argues that perpetuals combine traditional futures contract features and should be classified as security futures under existing U.S. law. The filing responds to a long-running U.S. debate over how to classify perpetuals, which have oscillated between futures and swaps depending on the case. The platform says that regulatory ambiguity has prevented orderly development of these markets in the United States while global volume keeps growing outside U.S. jurisdiction. Over the past ten months, Hyperliquid’s perpetuals markets accumulated more than $480 billion in global trading volume.
The document outlines four concrete requests. First, regulators should confirm that the definition of a security future incorporates the distinguishing features of futures contracts and that a cash-settled perpetual referencing an equity asset can fall within that category. Second, platforms should retain flexibility to make listing decisions. Third, classification should be consistent across the SEC and CFTC so that a perpetual receives the same treatment regardless of the underlying asset. Fourth, the security futures framework should be modernized to accommodate new product structures. Hyperliquid emphasizes that these steps do not require formal rulemaking; interpretive guidance, policy statements, and staff-level actions would be enough to provide needed clarity. CFTC Chairman Brian Quintenz Selig has previously said the question was never whether these markets would exist, but whether they would exist under U.S. oversight and standards.
The proposal recommends classifying perpetual futures based on their economic structure—such as margin requirements, settlement procedures, and leverage—rather than the underlying asset. Hyperliquid argues that this would align the treatment of crypto derivatives with traditional derivatives regulation, reduce compliance costs, and potentially bring a significant share of the offshore perpetuals market back to U.S. exchanges. The filing also highlights investor protection and transparency benefits. It joins broader industry and legislative efforts to clarify SEC and CFTC roles in digital assets, adding pressure for a more coherent regulatory environment.
