An interesting case seems to be brewing around Hyperliquid.
Reports have emerged that authorities in Singapore, the city-state the decentralized trading platform claims is home to its corporate headquarters, say they have no jurisdiction over Hyperliquid at all.
MAS Questions Where Hyperliquid Falls Under Regulation
According to a Financial Times report on October 7, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is not aware of Hyperliquid being regulated in any major jurisdiction and has previously warned investors that its perpetual futures are not regulated by the authority.
People familiar with MAS’s thinking reportedly told the FT that the regulator did not consider the platform to be based in Singapore because of its decentralized nature. That could place the protocol outside MAS’s jurisdiction even though the corporate entity is located in the country.
Hyperliquid Labs confirmed to the FT that it is based in Singapore. Even job advertisements posted as recently as the previous week asked applicants whether they could work from the company’s Singapore office, while company documents identified Singapore as its registered headquarters.
The company also made its position clear on licensing. It stated that Hyperliquid is unregulated and “is not, and has never claimed to be, licensed or authorized by MAS,” while adding that it respected regulators’ roles and remained committed to engaging with them.
The distinction has drawn attention because the protocol has grown into a sizeable trading venue. Hyperliquid Financials data covering the 12 months through October 6 shows $730.5 million in protocol revenue and $723.7 million in operating net income. Total perpetual derivatives volume reached $716.4 billion in the third quarter, while open interest stood at $16.4 billion at quarter-end.
HYPE Activity Grows as HIP-3 Expands
The regulatory question has come at a time when the platform is broadening the type of markets available through HIP-3, its deployer-based perpetual futures system.
At TOKEN2049 Singapore, founder Jeff Yan stated that HIP-3 markets accounted for about 51% of trading volume at one point in July, and Hyperliquid Financials data puts HIP-3 at 36.6% of total perpetual derivatives volume in the third quarter, up from 32.7% in the second quarter.
Yan argued that users are moving toward on-chain versions of financial products that were previously harder to access, pointing to perpetual contracts tied to assets such as crude oil and pre-IPO markets. He also described the project as infrastructure rather than a conventional trading front end, saying, “No one is competing with the internet.”
HYPE, the platform’s native token, has also moved well beyond its earlier August peak, when it passed $82 to set a then-record high, after it got to within touching distance of $98 on September 23. However, at the time of writing it had retreated more than 7% from that ATH and was trading near $91 after falling about 2% over 24 hours.
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