TL;DR
- Hyperliquid Policy Center says perpetual contracts should anchor the CFTC’s innovation agenda as U.S. demand and traditional-asset activity expand.
- Perpetuals can help airlines, funds and AI developers hedge open-ended risks without repeatedly rolling dated futures, while funding payments keep prices aligned with references.
- The CFTC has approved a U.S.-listed perpetual future, sought comments on energy and compute products, and HPC argues onchain infrastructure can modernize regulated derivatives under existing law.
Hyperliquid Policy Center is pushing perpetual contracts to the center of the CFTC’s innovation agenda after the product surfaced during the regulator’s first Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on August 20. Although perpetuals were not listed alongside digital assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets, members raised them in all three sessions. The policy case is that perpetuals have moved from a crypto-native instrument into a broader derivatives format with growing U.S. demand. HPC says third-party markets on Hyperliquid have already generated more than $500 billion in notional volume across over 80 traditional commodity and equity markets.
Perpetuals could reshape how U.S. markets manage continuous risk
Perpetuals appeal to hedgers because they remove the expiration cycle built into conventional futures. An airline managing fuel costs, an investment fund adjusting exposure or an AI developer confronting compute expenses may face risks with no natural end date. Dated futures require repeated rolls, adding timing risk and transaction costs whenever contracts expire. HPC argues that a perpetual contract can match those open-ended exposures directly by maintaining one position without expiry, rollover or delivery. Periodic funding payments keep prices tied to reference assets, while dated futures remain useful for risks linked to fixed calendar dates.
The regulatory backdrop is shifting. The CFTC approved the first U.S.-listed perpetual futures contract in May, issued a policy statement on listings and published staff guidance for continuous trading. It then requested public comment in June on extending the product to energy commodities, while another consultation asks about compute derivatives. HPC sees those actions as evidence that perpetual markets are beginning to move onshore under existing derivatives rules. The organization points to exchange competition, with 30 designated contract markets regulated by the CFTC, 17 applications pending and listed contracts more than tripling in three years.
HPC’s argument goes beyond product approval to infrastructure underneath derivatives markets. It says blockchains can record markets, orders and positions transparently, reassess margin continuously and move collateral in real time, reducing counterparty and settlement risk. The broader proposal is to let onchain infrastructure modernize regulated U.S. derivatives without rewriting the Commodity Exchange Act. Because the statute regulates functions and outcomes through a principles-based framework, HPC says targeted guidance could clarify how firms use public blockchains. Its stated goal is a regulated path for Americans to access onchain markets while keeping financial innovation on U.S. soil.