The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) filed a statement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on August 27, 2026, urging the regulator to prioritize perpetual contracts in its innovation agenda. The filing comes as offshore perpetual contracts have exceeded $500 billion in trading volume.
The statement follows the CFTC's inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on August 20, where perpetual contracts were not formally on the agenda but were repeatedly discussed across all three sessions. HPC cited this unprompted attention as evidence of market demand.
Arguments for Perpetuals
In its filing, HPC made four key arguments: that perpetuals are critical to the CFTC's innovation work, that they address genuine hedging needs, that regulatory openness is already bringing these markets onshore, and that public blockchains can modernize derivatives infrastructure.
HPC highlighted use cases where perpetual contracts serve ongoing needs without expiration dates, such as airlines hedging aviation fuel costs, portfolio managers managing long-term risk, and AI developers facing continuous computing expenses. Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetuals require rolling over at set intervals, which introduces timing risks and transaction costs.
Industry Support and Opposition
During the CFTC committee meeting, industry leaders including Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini, Don Wilson of DRW, Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, Raghu Yarlagadda of FalconX, and Tushar Jain of Multicoin spoke in favor of perpetual contracts, with Winklevoss noting that U.S. firms are being left behind as perpetuals dominate global digital asset trading.
The filing arrives as the CFTC has moved toward greater openness on perpetuals. In May, the regulator approved the first U.S.-listed perpetual futures contract, Kalshi's BTCPERP, and subsequently released policy guidance and requested comment on extending the product to energy commodities. However, CME Group challenged the CFTC in court in June, arguing that perpetuals should be classified as swaps rather than futures, with CME's former chief characterizing the products as problematic.
