- Hyperliquid Labs is registered in Singapore, with corporate documents and job postings citing the city-state as its headquarters and office location.
- MAS does not consider Hyperliquid to be based in Singapore due to its decentralised nature, while the company confirmed it has never received or claimed MAS licensing or authorisation.
Hyperliquid Labs has confirmed that it is based in Singapore. Corporate documents reviewed by the FT list Singapore as its registered headquarters. Job postings cite the city-state as its office location. By every paper measure, this is a Singapore company. The Monetary Authority of Singapore disagrees, and that disagreement is now one of the more interesting regulatory standoffs in crypto.
MAS said it does not view Hyperliquid as being based in Singapore because of its decentralised nature. As a result, the regulator does not consider the platform within its jurisdiction. In June, MAS added Hyperliquid to Singapore’s crypto warning list. It is a public flag that alerts investors that the platform is not regulated by MAS. Significantly, assumptions about oversight should not be made.
The company confirmed it has never received a license or authorisation from MAS and has never claimed otherwise. It describes itself as permissionless infrastructure where users keep control of their own funds through on-chain settlements. Furthermore, it remains committed to engaging constructively with regulators.
What Hyperliquid Actually Does?
Hyperliquid is best known for perpetual futures, crypto-based derivatives that let traders take leveraged positions on assets including cryptocurrencies, stocks, and oil without taking delivery of the underlying asset. Perps don’t expire and use a funding rate mechanism designed to keep prices aligned with spot markets.
Consumer advocates have described perps as the most dangerous product in crypto because of their highly leveraged and open-ended structure. Moreover, the format has been gaining wider visibility as traders use them to place off-hours bets during volatile periods, including during the Iran conflict earlier this year.
The Jurisdiction Problem Nobody Has Solved
In addition, this situation sits at the centre of a question the entire crypto industry is still working through. How do you determine the true regulatory home of a platform that presents itself as decentralised?
Even with Singapore listed as its registered headquarters, MAS has effectively concluded that legal registration alone is not enough to establish jurisdiction when the operating structure is decentralised. That position has precedent, but it creates a gap. Here, a platform with billions in trading volume sits outside the reach of any major regulator.
MAS already set a June 30, 2025 deadline for local firms serving overseas clients to get licensed or stop operating. This signalled it would generally not grant those licences. Also, Hyperliquid‘s timing could not be more pointed; its founder, Jeff Yan, is set to speak at Token2049 in Singapore this Wednesday.
On the other hand, regulatory uncertainty around one of the most active perp platforms in crypto adds friction for institutional participants who need clear jurisdictional lines before committing capital.
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