MAS has placed Hyperliquid on its "grey list": a warning for DeFi users
On June 26, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officially added the website of the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid and the portal of the Hyper Foundation to its Investor Alert List (IAL). This list is intended for platforms that may be mistakenly perceived by users as being licensed by the regulator.
What does this mean for the platform?
It is important to understand: being placed on the IAL is not a ban on operations or the imposition of sanctions. The Hyperliquid team responded promptly, emphasizing that being added to the list is not an enforcement measure or an indication of a violation. DEX representatives stated that the platform has never claimed to have a MAS license or positioned itself as a regulated service.
"Hyperliquid is public infrastructure. It does not have, and has never claimed to have, a license or authorization from MAS, and no one should consider it as such. Nothing has changed on the network," the protocol team noted. They also reminded that users remain the full owners of their assets, and all transactions are processed transparently.
Context: tightening rules in Singapore
This step by the MAS is part of a systemic policy. Since the beginning of summer, centralized exchanges KuCoin and Bitget have been added to a similar list. This occurs against the backdrop of new regulatory requirements: from June 2025, all crypto companies must obtain a license as a digital token service provider, otherwise they are prohibited from serving foreign clients.
Thus, the inclusion of Hyperliquid in the IAL is more of a signal for retail investors than a direct threat to the protocol. MAS warns: do not confuse the availability of a service with its regulated status.
My expert opinion: This precedent highlights a key challenge for DeFi — the lack of clear jurisdictional frameworks. Hyperliquid, being a fully non-custodial and open platform, cannot and should not obtain a traditional license, but regulators continue to apply old tools to new technologies. Investors should pay closer attention to jurisdictional risks even when working with "pure" DeFi protocols.