Singapore's financial regulator says it is unaware of Hyperliquid being regulated in any major jurisdiction and questions the decentralized trading platform's claimed Singapore status. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has also warned investors about the platform's leveraged perpetual futures, citing concerns around retail crypto speculation.

The dispute centers on whether the decentralized platform falls under Singapore's regulatory jurisdiction, with MAS maintaining that Hyperliquid's perpetual futures remain outside its oversight even as Hyperliquid Labs confirms the city-state as its base. The disagreement highlights how decentralized platforms can complicate the conventional mapping of companies to home-country regulators.

MAS Questions Hyperliquid's Singapore Status

People familiar with MAS's thinking told the Financial Times that the regulator does not view Hyperliquid as based in Singapore. They cited the platform's decentralized nature and said it should therefore fall outside MAS jurisdiction.

Hyperliquid Labs, however, told the FT that it is based in Singapore. Recent job advertisements asked applicants whether they could work in the company's Singapore office, and corporate documents reviewed by the FT list Singapore as Hyperliquid Labs' registered headquarters.

The company said Hyperliquid has never claimed MAS licensing or authorization. It added that it respects regulators' roles and remains committed to engaging with them. MAS, meanwhile, has warned investors about the platform's perpetual futures.

Perpetual Futures Draw Regulatory Scrutiny

Hyperliquid's platform offers perpetual futures, contracts that allow traders to speculate on price movements without delivering the underlying assets. The instruments do not expire and use mechanisms that keep their prices tied to underlying spot markets.

Consumer advocates have described perpetual futures as highly risky, since traders can use leverage and maintain open-ended positions. Hyperliquid founder and CEO Jeff Yan spoke Wednesday at Token2049 in Singapore.

MAS has taken a consistently cautious approach to retail cryptocurrency activity, promoting digital asset innovation among institutions while discouraging cryptocurrency speculation among the public. The regulator's concerns also follow earlier crypto failures in Singapore: Terraform Labs was registered there before its $40 billion TerraUSD collapse in 2022.

Singapore Tightens Rules Around Crypto Firms

Last year, MAS required unlicensed crypto exchanges operating in Singapore to close or move overseas. Chainalysis later reported that Singapore's crypto assets grew 55% over the year.

Other regulators have also addressed Hyperliquid's perpetual futures. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has warned investors that it does not regulate Hyperliquid. The U.S. approved retail perpetual futures trading this year, and President Donald Trump said in August that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was working toward bringing Hyperliquid into the U.S. compliantly.

Singapore Exchange also offers perpetual futures, but MAS said its products differ fundamentally from Hyperliquid's, noting that SGX designed those products for institutional investors. Taken together, the statements show regulators approaching Hyperliquid from different directions: Singapore questions where the company is based, the UK has told investors it does not regulate the platform, and the U.S. has pointed toward compliant access — leaving the platform's regulatory standing to vary across jurisdictions for now.