The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to establish a harmonized regulatory framework for perpetual contracts as both agencies weigh how to classify these products under United States derivatives law.
Classification Challenges and Market Growth
Perpetual contracts blur traditional regulatory boundaries because they share core characteristics with futures—such as standardized terms, fungibility, futurity, and the ability to exit via offsetting positions—while lacking a fixed expiry date. HPC noted that funding payments replace the function of an expiry date by keeping contract prices aligned with the underlying market.
The CFTC approved the first US-listed perpetual contracts to trade as futures in May, later noting that equity perpetuals may warrant joint review by both the CFTC and SEC. Both regulators subsequently sought public feedback on how definitions for swaps, security-based swaps, futures, and security futures should apply to newer products like cash-settled equity perpetuals.
Highlighting market scale, HPC pointed to over $480 billion in trading volume across Hyperliquid perpetual markets over the past ten months, spanning contracts tied to oil, metals, currencies, equity indices, and individual stocks.
Proposed Regulatory Approach
HPC argues that classification should rely on a contract's structure and trading characteristics rather than its underlying asset. Under this proposed approach, contracts with matching features would receive the same initial classification regardless of whether they reference Bitcoin, crude oil, an equity index, or an individual stock, with the underlying asset instead dictating regulatory jurisdiction and additional safeguards.
The policy group contends that qualifying equity perpetuals fit within the existing security futures framework jointly overseen by the SEC and CFTC. According to HPC, this alignment would allow securities and futures exchanges to compete for perpetual products while minimizing jurisdictional disputes.
HPC is asking regulators to:
- Confirm that qualifying equity perpetuals can be listed as security futures.
- Preserve exchange flexibility regarding listing decisions.
- Apply consistent classification standards.
- Modernize the security futures framework.
The group suggested that regulators could deliver clarity through interpretive guidance, policy statements, and staff action rather than waiting for formal rulemaking, noting that clearer rules could draw more perpetual trading activity into regulated US markets.
