Crypto news

On June 26, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officially added the Hyperliquid platform, as well as the website of the Hyper Foundation, to its "Investor Alert List." This move means that the regulator has identified these services as potentially being mistakenly perceived by users as licensed and regulated entities.

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual exchange (perp-DEX), now appears on the same list as major centralized platforms like KuCoin and Bitget, which were added earlier in the summer. It is important to emphasize that inclusion on this list is not a direct ban on operations or the start of enforcement measures. Rather, it is a signal to the market: the regulator is warning investors about potential risks.

The Hyperliquid team responded promptly to the event, stating that being added to the list does not change the nature of their work. They emphasized that the platform has never claimed to hold a MAS license and should not be regarded as such. "Hyperliquid is public infrastructure. Users hold their own assets, and transactions are processed transparently," the project noted.

This incident is a direct consequence of Singapore's tightening regulatory policy. Recall that in June 2025, MAS introduced a mandatory licensing requirement for all crypto companies providing services within the country, including servicing foreign clients. Adding Hyperliquid to the "gray list" is a clear signal from the regulator that DeFi protocols operating without a license will not remain outside its purview.

My comment: This development is extremely telling. Singapore is consistently building one of the strictest and most transparent regulatory environments in the world. The inclusion of Hyperliquid is not just a bureaucratic formality, but a warning to the entire DeFi sector: "regulatory arbitrage" no longer works. For projects targeting the Asian market, obtaining the appropriate license is becoming not just a recommendation, but a matter of survival.