Within under three years, Hyperliquid has emerged as one of the , achieving trading volumes that rival those of long-standing exchanges like Binance and . Now, the firm is also looking to exert its political influence. On Wednesday, the Hyperliquid Policy Center launched in Washington, D.C., with the aim of creating a legal path for the widespread adoption of decentralized finance, or DeFi, in the United States.
The first CEO of this new entity is Jake Chervinsky, a long-time cryptocurrency lawyer who has played a pivotal role in helping the industry establish its presence on Capitol Hill. He has previously held senior positions at the Blockchain Association trade group and the venture firm Variant, and worked as an associate at Baker McKenzie.
The launch of the Hyperliquid Policy Center occurs at a time when the crypto industry, which once avoided engagement with Washington, D.C., is backing an expanding list of policy and lobbying organizations, including the DeFi Education Fund. However, Chervinsky emphasized that the new center has a distinct role to fulfill.
“We’re at a juncture where the U.S. faces a significant challenge to rewrite the rules for the new chapter of DeFi,” Chervinsky told , explaining that the Hyperliquid center would seek to help Congress and federal agencies grasp the technology underpinning decentralized finance and provide expertise to assist regulators in drafting rules to integrate it into the financial system.
Chervinsky added that current regulatory structures were designed in an analog era and are unable to account for new trading types such as decentralized protocols, which enable participants to swap assets on automated platforms not controlled by any single company or individual.
One of the new center’s top priorities will be to develop a legal framework for perpetual derivatives. Commonly known as “perps,” these instruments are a type of derivative that does not expire and, in Chervinsky’s view, are superior to options or futures because they are simpler and offer more direct exposure to the underlying asset. Currently, perps make up a large volume of trading on offshore crypto exchanges but have yet to enter mainstream finance.
To support the new center’s work, a foundation linked to Hyperliquid is donating 1 million of the platform’s native token, HYPE, which are currently worth around $28 million. Alongside Chervinsky, the organization’s founding team comprises Policy Counsel Brad Bourque, formerly an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and Policy Director Salah Ghazzal, previously Policy Lead at Variant. The center is currently hiring for the roles of Chief of Staff, Head of Communications, and Head of Government Relations.