‘Every single exchange’ will have to adopt public blockchain infrastructure to compete, Hyperliquid Policy Center CEO says

Jake Chervinsky, CEO of the Hyperliquid Policy Center, said Tuesday that within a decade every major exchange will need public blockchain infrastructure to compete. Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia in Singapore, he included crypto-native venues such as Coinbase and Kraken, as well as traditional exchanges like CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), in that prediction.

Chervinsky argued that Hyperliquid is not an exchange competing directly with Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood or CME. He described it as infrastructure sitting one level below those venues in the technology stack, comparable to public networks such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Since public blockchains are not exchanges, he said, they have no reason to register as one. His aim is for the financial system to use public blockchains as underlying infrastructure.

The remarks come as efforts continue to bring onchain markets into the U.S. regulatory perimeter. In September, Payward announced plans to deploy permissioned perpetual markets on Hyperliquid for U.S. clients. Bitnomial, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse Payward acquired, would create and clear the contracts, while NinjaTrader Clearing would carry the accounts. The plan followed President Donald Trump's statement that the CFTC would bring Hyperliquid onshore in a compliant manner. Before that, the CFTC opened the way for Kalshi to offer regulated perpetual futures to U.S. customers.

U.S. regulators have allowed registered exchanges to offer crypto perpetuals to domestic customers, but they have not approved the underlying onchain infrastructure. Chervinsky said he expects onchain markets to enter the U.S. soon and praised regulators for working carefully. He cited resilience, security and transparency from a shared public ledger and decentralization, plus lower costs and higher speed. After onchain markets, he expects perpetuals on other underlying assets, including oil, metals and agricultural contracts. Oil and metals are already among Hyperliquid's more active markets.

Chervinsky also commented on CME Group's June lawsuit against the CFTC, which seeks to overturn the agency's earlier approval of perpetual futures as futures contracts. CME has argued the contracts should be classified as swaps. He said CME is highly unlikely to win the case, which is pending on a motion to dismiss, and noted the CFTC previously argued CME lacks standing because the rule it challenges allows CME to list the same product. Perpetuals do not take volume from CME's dated futures, he said, describing them as a new, separate market CME can choose not to enter. He called the lawsuit a delay tactic.

He also disputed CME's recent withdrawal of a plan for around-the-clock energy futures, which the exchange attributed to staffing issues. Chervinsky said staffing was not the reason, arguing CME misjudged demand in the energy industry for 24/7 trading.