Decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid has launched a new advocacy group in Washington to push for clearer rules around decentralized finance in Congress.

Summary

• Hyperliquid launched the Hyperliquid Policy Center in Washington to advocate for clearer regulations governing decentralized finance.
• HPC will focus on perpetual derivatives and blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

The Hyperliquid Policy Center will be “dedicated to advancing a clear, regulated path for decentralized finance to thrive in the United States,” according to a Feb. 18 announcement.

It will do this by producing “rigorous technical research” and “practical regulatory frameworks” for defi with a special focus on the derivatives market and blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

HPC has selected crypto policy veteran Jake Chervinsky to lead the organization. Chervinsky has a long track record in digital asset regulation and securities litigation, and has previously served as Chief Legal Officer at Variant and Chief Policy Officer at the Blockchain Association, as well as General Counsel at Compound Labs.

“U.S. financial regulations weren’t written for decentralized tech like Hyperliquid,” Chervinsky said in an X post, adding that “HPC will add expertise in perpetual derivatives, decentralized markets, and other technical topics to the conversation in Washington.”

The Hyper Foundation, an independent body supporting the growth of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, has pledged 1 million Hyperliquid tokens to fund the launch of the Hyperliquid Policy Centre.

Advocacy groups assemble to support crypto policy

As the industry matures, the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to blockchain advocacy is being replaced by surgical, sector-specific lobbying.

Last year, top Ethereum protocols, including Aave, Uniswap, and Lido, among others, came together to form the Ethereum Protocol Advocacy Alliance, a joint advocacy effort to advance global policy change.

More recently, the Digital Chamber launched the Prediction Markets Working Group in a bid to protect and formalize the legal status of event-based contracts in the United States by reinforcing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the exclusive regulator for prediction markets.