Singapore regulator adds Hyperliquid to warning list: what this means for the DeFi sector
On June 26, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) officially added the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid website, as well as the portal of the Hyper Foundation organization, to its "Investor Alert List" (IAL). This is a list of platforms that may be mistakenly perceived by users as having a license from the Singapore regulator.
It is important to emphasize: inclusion in the IAL is not a ban on activity, a sanction, or an acknowledgment of a legal violation. Hyperliquid itself quickly responded on social media, explaining that this status is purely informational. The platform team noted that the IAL includes many major exchanges and DeFi protocols, and Hyperliquid has never claimed to have an MAS license. "Nothing has changed on the network. Users still self-custody their assets, and all transactions are processed transparently," the protocol representatives emphasized.
Notably, since the beginning of summer 2025, centralized exchanges KuCoin and Bitget have also been added to this same list. This indicates systematic work by the MAS to clear the information field of services that could mislead investors regarding their legal status.
Let me remind you that in June 2025, the MAS tightened the rules: now all crypto companies are required to obtain a license as a digital token service provider. Otherwise, they must cease servicing clients from abroad. Hyperliquid, as an open DeFi infrastructure, operates in a different legal paradigm, but being placed on the IAL is a serious signal for the market.
My Analysis
This step by the MAS is not an isolated incident but part of a global trend: regulators around the world are beginning to more actively "highlight" DeFi protocols, even if they do not violate formal norms. For Hyperliquid, this is more of a reputational than a legal risk, but investors should pay closer attention to jurisdictional nuances when working with non-custodial platforms. Blockchain transparency does not eliminate the need to understand where and how your service is perceived by the regulator.