HPC Presses CFTC to Prioritize Perpetual Contracts in Continued Policy Push
Hyperliquid Policy Center Urges CFTC to Prioritize Perpetual Contracts in Innovation Agenda
The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) formally petitioned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday, August 27, 2026, urging the regulator to place perpetual contracts at the center of its innovation roadmap. The filing arrives as U.S. traders remain largely excluded from a global perpetual derivatives market that has surpassed $500 billion in offshore volume.
Perpetual Contracts Dominate CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee Meeting
The HPC statement follows the CFTC’s first Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on August 20. While the official agenda covered digital assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets, HPC reports that committee members raised perpetual contracts repeatedly across all three sessions.
Citing timestamps from the meeting webcast, HPC identified several industry leaders who advocated for the product:
- Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini stated that U.S. firms are falling behind as perpetual contracts constitute the bulk of global digital asset trading volume.
- Don Wilson of DRW characterized perpetuals as essential risk tools that registered funds would prefer to hold alongside dated futures.
- Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, Raghu Yarlagadda of FalconX, and Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital also spoke in favor of perpetual contracts.
HPC interpreted this unsolicited discussion as clear evidence of market demand. Signed by Chief Executive Jake Chervinsky and Senior Counsel Brad Bourque, the statement was submitted to Commission Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick and advances four core arguments:
- Perpetual contracts are critical to the CFTC’s innovation mandate.
- They address genuine, ongoing hedging needs.
- A more receptive CFTC is already moving these markets onshore.
- Public blockchains can modernize derivative infrastructure, warranting regulatory updates.
Why Perpetual Contracts Track Price Without Expiration
A significant portion of the filing explains the mechanics of perpetual contracts. Unlike traditional futures, perpetuals have no settlement date, cannot be rolled over, and involve no physical delivery. Instead, periodic funding payments transfer value between long and short position holders, anchoring the contract price to a reference index.
HPC argues this structure better serves exposures with no natural end date. The filing cites examples including:
- An airline hedging continuous aviation fuel consumption
- A fund managing persistent portfolio risk
- An AI developer facing rising, ongoing compute costs
In each case, hedging with dated futures introduces roll-cycle risk, timing uncertainty, and recurring transaction costs that perpetual contracts eliminate.
Shifting Regulatory Landscape and Legal Challenges
The filing coincides with a noticeable softening in the CFTC’s posture toward perpetual products:
- May 2026: The CFTC approved the first U.S.-listed perpetual futures contract, Kalshi’s BTCPERP, and issued a policy statement and staff guidance addressing continuous trading.
- June 2026: The agency requested public comment on extending perpetual contracts to storable energy commodities.
- August 26, 2026: HPC and the HIP-3 deployer submitted a joint response to the energy commodity request.
- August 24, 2026: HPC filed a separate response urging the SEC and CFTC to classify qualifying equity perpetuals as security futures.
According to figures released by FIA President Walt Lukken, the CFTC now oversees 30 designated contract markets—up from 16 in 2003—with 17 pending applications. The agency also manages 6,700 listed contracts, a sharp increase from 2,100 in 2023.
Opposition remains, however. CME Group filed suit against the CFTC in June, arguing that perpetual contracts constitute swaps rather than futures. CME’s outgoing chief, Terry Duffy, described the product as “a disaster waiting to happen.”
About the Hyperliquid Policy Center
HPC describes itself as an independent research and advocacy organization with ties to the Hyperliquid Foundation, which founded the center in February 2026.
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