Curated digest covering regulatory commentary on Hyperliquid, BingX EU licensing, Solana Shanghai expansion, RWA perpetuals on Hyperliquid, Kintsu lending beta, and Tether Capital's AI agent payment investment.
DeFi & Yields ·
Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan argued that US regulation should distinguish between market operators and the underlying blockchain infrastructure, stating that regulatory responsibility should fall on entities deploying and operating markets on the network rather than the protocol itself. Speaking on Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast, Yan framed Hyperliquid's Layer 1 blockchain as financial infrastructure designed to serve as a shared liquidity and trading layer, positioning the platform to support Wall Street institutions rather than compete with them. Kraken's parent company Payward has signaled plans to offer derivatives to US investors via a regulated exchange using Hyperliquid technology, though Hyperliquid itself remains unavailable to US users.
In parallel regulatory developments, BingX EU obtained an Austria CASP license enabling it to offer services across 29 EEA countries. Separately, Kintsu launched a private beta for lending and staking functionality on the Canton Network, while Ripple Prime introduced real-world asset perpetuals through Trade xyz on Hyperliquid targeted at institutional traders. Tether Capital made a strategic investment in AIsa to expand capabilities into AI agent payments, and the Solana Foundation unveiled a Shanghai office and skyline advertising presence.
What remains unclear is whether the regulatory framework Yan described will gain traction with US authorities, and how market operators will navigate compliance obligations if the model gains adoption.