Hyperliquid Policy Center and tradeXYZ filed a joint comment letter with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on August 24, urging the regulator to permit energy perpetual contracts in US markets. The groups cited 24/7 price discovery and hedging as core benefits of the product class.
Energy perpetuals are derivative contracts tied to electricity, natural gas, and other energy commodities, traded continuously without expiration dates. The CFTC has not yet authorized such instruments for US retail or institutional trading, limiting them to offshore venues. The filing represents a formal push to change that regulatory posture.
Hyperliquid Policy Center, a Washington DC-based nonprofit affiliated with the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange, has been active in crypto regulatory advocacy since its founding in 2024. TradeXYZ is a trading infrastructure firm focused on derivatives markets. Together, they argue that perpetual contracts on energy assets would allow market participants to hedge physical exposures and execute strategies impossible in spot or traditional futures markets.
Perpetuals trade in real time without settlement windows, allowing prices to respond to supply shocks, demand swings, and weather events as they occur. Traditional energy futures on the CME and ICE exchanges settle at fixed intervals, typically monthly or quarterly. Spot markets in electricity and natural gas exist but are fragmented by geography and often restricted to utilities and qualified participants.
The comment letter lands amid a broader CFTC review of which derivatives products pose sufficient systemic risk to warrant restriction. The commission has been cautious on crypto derivatives since the 2023 FTX collapse, which centered partly on unregulated perpetual trading. However, the CFTC has also stated openness to energy derivatives under supervision, having approved micro futures and options contracts on related commodities in recent years.
Energy perpetuals already trade on decentralized exchanges and offshore centralized platforms, volumes undisclosed but understood to be significant among institutional traders hedging physical energy positions. If the CFTC approves a US-domiciled contract, it would likely require position limits, margin standards, and real-time price reporting similar to those the commission applies to other futures.
The filing is the first named institutional push for CFTC approval of energy perpetuals as a product class. The commission typically accepts comment letters for 30 days before ruling, though no formal rulemaking has been announced to date.
If the CFTC opens a formal proceeding on energy derivatives in the next 60 days, Hyperliquid Policy Center and tradeXYZ will have set the regulatory table early; if it does not, their letter will have served as a high-profile marker of demand without shifting policy in any measurable way.
