Hyperliquid's policy arm asks the CFTC to open a US path for oil perpetuals

Two entities with a direct commercial stake in onchain perpetual futures asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday to write rules that would let energy perpetuals trade in the United States, according to The Block, which cited the letter and a Hyperliquid Policy Center post on X.

The letter, from the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) and perpetuals trading platform trade[XYZ], responds to a CFTC request for comment issued in June on crude oil perpetual contracts and 24/7 trading. Perpetual futures have no expiry date and let traders take positions on price without holding the underlying asset; most of that volume currently sits on offshore venues outside US oversight.

The pitch rests on a timing argument. HPC and trade[XYZ] pointed to supply shocks earlier this year after US and Israeli missile strikes on Iran — a weekend event, when conventional oil futures markets were closed. Much of the resulting trading, they said, moved onchain to venues like Hyperliquid, which run continuously. "When another crisis breaks on a Saturday night, American businesses should not have to wait until Sunday evening to manage their risk," HPC said, per The Block.

Their specific asks: a "technology neutral," principles-based framework, and clarification from the CFTC of what constitutes a business day for timing requirements. They also framed perpetuals as complementary rather than competitive, asking the agency to "open a regulated path for it alongside the dated benchmark" rather than displace dated futures.

The filing follows a separate HPC letter sent earlier this week to both the CFTC and the SEC seeking a harmonized cross-agency framework for perpetual contracts.

Key facts

• Letter filed Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, by HPC and trade[XYZ] to the CFTC — The Block, citing the letter.
• Responds to the CFTC's June 2026 request for comment on crude oil perpetuals and 24/7 trading — The Block.
• Asks for a technology-neutral, principles-based framework and a definition of "business day" — The Block, citing the letter.
• The CFTC previously permitted bitcoin perpetual futures when staff greenlit KalshiEX and Coinbase to list them — The Block.
• President Donald Trump said at the White House last week that CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid onshore in a "fully compliant and legal fashion" — The Block.

The real-world read

This is lobbying, not a rule change. No CFTC action has followed, no timeline was disclosed, and comment letters cost nothing to file.

The interested-party problem is the whole story. HPC is a policy vehicle for the Hyperliquid ecosystem, and trade[XYZ] sells perpetuals. Their central factual claim — that "much of" the post-strike hedging migrated onchain — arrives without a volume figure, an exchange breakdown, or a date for the strikes themselves, and it happens to describe their own venues' competitive advantage. Treat it as an advocacy assertion until someone publishes the numbers.

Note also the sequencing: a platform that has operated largely beyond US oversight is now asking for US oversight, one week after the president publicly said his CFTC chair was working to bring it onshore. And the "we're not replacing dated futures" line is aimed squarely at incumbent exchanges whose benchmark contracts would object.

Left unsaid: who funds HPC, and whether the CFTC has responded at all.

Opinion, and whose

• HPC and trade[XYZ]: that 24/7 perpetuals fill a genuine weekend hedging gap and belong alongside dated benchmarks under US rules. That is their forecast and their commercial interest, not an established finding.
• Trump: that Hyperliquid can be brought onshore compliantly, with Selig working on it — a stated intention, not a completed regulatory step.

Sources

• The Block (Sarah Wynn), Aug. 26, 2026 — sole account of the letter, its asks, the June request for comment, the KalshiEX and Coinbase bitcoin perps clearance, and Trump's White House remarks; quotes drawn from the letter and HPC's X post. The Block discloses that Foresight Ventures is its majority investor and that Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight.
• HPC / trade[XYZ] comment letter and HPC's post on X — the primary documents, quoted secondhand here; neither has been reviewed in full independently of The Block's account.

No sponsored or press-release material was used. The letter itself is advocacy from parties that stand to benefit and is treated as such.

Nothing here is financial advice.