Onchain Markets Need Their Own Rules, Hyperliquid and Phantom Tell CFTC

Hyperliquid and Phantom file joint CFTC comment letter

The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) and wallet maker Phantom submitted a joint comment letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on 9 July 2026. The letter responds to a CFTC request for information (RFI) issued in mid-June 2026 under an executive order on financial-technology innovation. The RFI asked which rules may unduly impede fintech firms from working with CFTC-regulated infrastructure. HPC and Phantom urge the agency to update its rules for onchain trading.

Letter sets out three requests for onchain rules

The filing makes three main requests. First, it asks the CFTC to confirm that publishing onchain software does not, by itself, require registration as a designated contract market, clearinghouse, or futures commission merchant. Second, it urges the agency to let already-registered entities use onchain infrastructure for core functions such as matching, settlement, and margining. Third, it asks the CFTC to codify the no-action relief it granted Phantom into a durable rule rather than a one-off staff position.

Filing argues software cannot be a broker

HPC and Phantom argue that legacy rules were built for markets run through intermediaries, not code on a public blockchain. Software running onchain, they write, has "no legal personality, no capacity to enter into contracts, and no ability to respond to regulatory inquiries." That distinction, they argue, means registration and enforcement tools designed for firms cannot apply to a smart contract.

"Onchain markets work differently, and they need rules of their own.", 9 July 2026. — Hyperliquid Policy Center and Phantom, comment letter to the CFTC

Phantom already holds a CFTC no-action letter

On 17 March 2026, the CFTC's Market Participants Division issued Letter No. 26-09, a no-action position addressed to Phantom Technologies. Staff said they would not recommend enforcement against Phantom for failing to register as an introducing broker, subject to set conditions. It was the first such relief the agency had granted to a self-custodial wallet provider. The new comment letter asks the CFTC to turn that one-off relief into a standing rule.

Push follows CME's lawsuit against the CFTC

The filing lands during a wider fight over onchain derivatives. In late May 2026, the CFTC approved the first U.S.-regulated bitcoin perpetual futures, clearing prediction-market platform Kalshi to list the product. In June 2026, CME Group sued the CFTC and its chair, Michael Selig, arguing the approval bypassed the process required for that type of contract. HPC founder Jake Chervinsky called the lawsuit a "shocking misjudgment." Hyperliquid runs a decentralized perpetual futures exchange and has said CME accounts for roughly 92% of the U.S. exchange-traded derivatives market.

HYPE price at time of publication

HYPE traded at $68.75 at the time of publication, up 1.28% over the past 24 hours (CoinPaprika, 10 July 2026). Trading volume over that period reached about $210 million. The token held a market value near $22.96 billion, ranking among the ten largest crypto assets.

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