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

Hyperliquid Policy Center CEO Jake Chervinsky said Tuesday that "every single exchange," including CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), will have to adopt public blockchain infrastructure within a decade if exchanges want to compete.

Speaking with The Block at the Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia in Singapore, the crypto policy expert said that Hyperliquid (HYPE) is not an exchange but infrastructure that can be utilized by different players, including those in the U.S.

Chervinsky compared the Hyperliquid protocol to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, and said a public blockchain has no reason to register as an exchange.

"Hyperliquid is not meant to compete with Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood, and CME. Hyperliquid sits one level below them in the technology stack. It's technology that they can use to improve their product," said Chervinsky, adding that the vision for Hyperliquid is that the financial system as a whole will upgrade its technology to have public blockchains as its underlying infrastructure.

"I would imagine that if we are successful, 10 years from now, every single exchange that you can think of, whether that's a crypto-native exchange like Kraken or Coinbase, or one of the traditional exchanges like the Intercontinental Exchange or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, all of them will have to integrate this technology if they want to compete," Chervinsky said.

Next steps

Chervinsky's comments follow Payward's September announcement that it intends 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. NinjaTrader Clearing would carry the accounts.

This came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 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 already allowed registered exchanges to offer crypto perpetuals to domestic customers. What they have not done is approve the underlying onchain infrastructure. The Hyperliquid advocate said he expects onchain markets to come into the U.S. at "some point soon."

"I think that there is no doubt that the regulators are working really hard to bring onchain markets into the United States," Chervinsky said. "I respect that they are doing this in a methodical and thoughtful and careful way; it's not simple to do."

Chervinsky said the benefits of bringing onchain markets inside the regulatory perimeter are obvious: a shared public ledger and decentralization bring resilience, security and transparency, while lower costs and higher speed improve existing market systems.

He said the next regulatory step, after onchain markets, is perpetuals on other underlying assets, such as oil and metals, which are already among the more active markets on Hyperliquid, as well as agricultural contracts.

CME's 'delay tactics'

Meanwhile, Chervinsky also commented on CME Group's lawsuit against the CFTC in June, which seeks to overturn its earlier approval of perpetual futures as futures contracts. CME has argued that those contracts should be classified as swaps.

Chervinsky said the exchange is highly unlikely to win the case, which is pending on a motion to dismiss. The CFTC previously argued that CME lacks standing because the rule it is challenging allows CME to list the same product.

"If you choose not to compete, you can't complain about the competition that you are deciding to stay out," Chervinsky said. Perpetuals do not take volume from the dated futures CME already offers, he said. They are a brand-new, separate market the exchange can choose not to enter.

"I think this is really just a matter of the CME wanting to slow down progress because they themselves are not prepared to take advantage of that progress," Chervinsky said. "So I think it's a delay tactic."

The Hyperliquid Policy Center CEO further dismissed CME's recent decision to withdraw its plan for around-the-clock energy futures, citing staffing issues. 

"I do not think that it was a staffing issue," Chervinsky said. "I think it was the CME getting way out over their skis and not understanding what the actual demand is in the energy industry for 24/7 trading."