HPC Teams Up with trade.xyz to Write to CFTC: Calls for Allowing Energy Derivatives to Enter the U.S. Regulated Market

BlockBeats News, August 26th. The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) and trade.xyz have submitted a joint letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), calling for a clear pathway for Energy Perpetual Contracts to enter the U.S. regulated market. trade.xyz is the largest third-party perpetual contract market deployer for Hyperliquid, and its markets including WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, and Henry Hub Natural Gas have seen a total trading volume of over $500 billion since launching in October 2025.

The letter cited the Middle East conflict-induced energy export disruption at the end of February this year as an example. It mentioned that during weekends when the U.S. crude oil futures market is closed, overseas participants can still manage risk through oil perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid. Before the traditional benchmark markets reopen, the on-chain contracts have already completed about two-thirds of the overall price discovery from Friday's close to Sunday's open.

HPC and trade.xyz stated that perpetual contracts have no expiry date, eliminating the need for rollovers and allowing trading interest to concentrate on a single order book. A traditional WTI futures contract represents 1000 barrels of crude oil, with a nominal value of about $70,000 at recent prices; the median trade size in the trade.xyz oil market during non-traditional trading hours is only about $1,300, catering to smaller actual risk exposures.

Their research indicated that in sampled weekend closures, in nearly 75% of cases, the crude oil perpetual contract's weekend price was closer to the Sunday reopening price than the traditional benchmark's Friday closing price, and after the introduction of related contracts, the quality of CME WTI reopening prices did not significantly deteriorate. To date, 97.9% of the trade.xyz market's settlement nominal amounts have been handled by the regular order book liquidation mechanism.

The letter argued that opening up energy perpetual contracts in the U.S. does not require new legislation and proposed that the CFTC adopt a technologically neutral, principle-based regulatory framework. It suggested confirming that exchanges and clearinghouses can operate around the clock while meeting core principles, defining requirements such as "business day" time limits, allowing stablecoins and tokenized traditional assets as collateral, and recognizing on-chain infrastructure for trading, margin management, clearing, settlement, and record-keeping.