Jake Chervinsky, a prominent crypto legal and policy voice, is pressing the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to embrace onchain trading innovations. In a recent social media post, he argued that weekend trading of oil perpetuals on Hyperliquid could help modernize global finance, and he called on the CFTC to ensure American traders can access those benefits.
That advocacy now has a formal policy push behind it. Hyperliquid Policy Center and trade.XYZ have asked the CFTC to permit regulated energy perpetual contracts, arguing that 24/7 markets help businesses manage price risk while traditional futures venues are closed. The request follows a weekend Middle East supply shock that disrupted exports while oil futures remained unavailable, putting global supply chains under pressure. During that weekend, Hyperliquid oil-linked perpetuals reportedly captured about two-thirds of the eventual move before benchmark futures reopened, according to the groups.
The filing points to trade.XYZ’s WTI, Brent and Henry Hub markets, which have generated more than $500 billion in cumulative volume since launching in October 2025. Perpetuals have no expiry, allowing hedgers to maintain one continuous position instead of repeatedly rolling dated contracts. That structure could reduce operational complexity while concentrating liquidity in a single order book. The size difference is also notable: a standard WTI future represents 1,000 barrels, around $70,000 recently, while the median off-hours trade in trade.XYZ’s crude market is near $1,300 for participants seeking smaller and more flexible exposures.
The central technical question is whether a contract without expiry can reliably track its benchmark. Hyperliquid Policy Center argues that funding rates continuously encourage traders to close deviations from reference prices. Its study found that in nearly 75% of sampled weekend closures, crude perpetual prices finished closer to Sunday’s benchmark reopening than Friday’s official close. The same study found no statistically significant deterioration in CME WTI reopening quality after the crude perpetual market launched.
The proposal also emphasizes onchain clearing, margining and surveillance. Positions are pre-funded, margin is reassessed on every trade and liquidations follow staged rules, with ordinary order-book liquidations resolving 97.9% of trade.XYZ liquidated notional so far. The policy ask is broader than approving one product: it seeks a technology-neutral path for 24/7 derivatives markets. The groups want the CFTC to recognize stablecoins and tokenized collateral for margin, clarify continuous-operation rules and confirm that onchain execution, clearing, settlement and recordkeeping can comply with existing Core Principles without new legislation under American oversight and established derivatives law.
The dialogue with regulators marks a significant shift toward recognizing the potential of decentralized finance. If the CFTC engages constructively, clearer guidelines could integrate onchain markets into the mainstream financial ecosystem and potentially attract more institutional participation.
