Two Robinhood engineers were charged with fraud on Tuesday in a Hyperliquid insider trading case, accused of buying futures contracts before their employer announced new token listings.
Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong Xiang, 30, each face one count of violating the Commodity Exchange Act and one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say the pair made more than $50,000 apiece.
How the Alleged Trades Worked
Hyperliquid runs a decentralized exchange built around perpetual futures. These are leveraged bets on a token’s price that never expire, so a trader can hold the position indefinitely.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York says the two engineers traded between 2025 and 2026. They knew which tokens Robinhood Crypto planned to list, then bought futures on those tokens first.
A listing on a large broker usually lifts a token’s price. Selling into that move turns advance knowledge into profit.
“Misappropriating confidential information to trade in the derivatives markets for personal benefit is illegal.”
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, statement
Hyperliquid Has Faced Insider Trading Claims Before
The exchange handled similar accusations in December 2025. Traders flagged a wallet shorting HYPE during a token unlock, and Hyperliquid denied insider trading by its staff.
The company said that wallet belonged to a former employee dismissed in early 2024. It also said team members are barred from trading HYPE derivatives.
HYPE traded near $77 on Tuesday, down 4.5% over 24 hours. The token ranks 11th by market value at roughly $17.1 billion.
The case lands as Robinhood expands its crypto business with its own blockchain, perpetual futures in Europe and tokenized stock trading. Robinhood has not issued a public response.
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