The Hyperliquid Foundation has announced the establishment of the Hyperliquid Policy Center, aimed at promoting the interests of DeFi in the United States.
The Hyper Foundation will contribute 1M HYPE tokens to support the creation of the Hyperliquid Policy Center.
— Hyperliquid (@HyperliquidX) February 18, 2026
The tokens will be unstaked later today. The Hyperliquid community will benefit from having representation in Washington, D.C., and we are confident that under… https://t.co/Vgo95Nrr17
“The community will gain from representation in Washington, and we are confident that under Jake Chervinsky's leadership, the Hyperliquid Policy Center will have a significant impact on clear regulation of decentralized finance,” the platform stated.
Chervinsky previously led the legal department at Variant Fund and remains an advisor there. He also serves on the board of the lobbying organization Blockchain Association.
To launch this initiative, the foundation donated 1 million HYPE tokens valued at approximately $29 million. The tokens will be unlocked on February 18.
The DEX team stated that they aim to introduce lawmakers to the platform and bridge the “gap between legal norms and the next-generation market infrastructure.”
The Hyperliquid Policy Center has promised to tackle the most challenging regulatory issues facing the derivatives and decentralized finance sectors.
“We will publish technical research, provide commentary on proposed regulations and legislative initiatives, and serve as a resource for policymakers who want to understand how DeFi actually works,” representatives of the new structure added.
HYPE Reaction and Hyperliquid Metrics
The native token of Hyperliquid, HYPE, did not react to the news. Over the past 24 hours, the token's price has dropped by 3.7%. At the time of writing, it trades around $29.
Hourly chart of HYPE/USDT on Bybit. Source: TradingView.
The decentralized exchange remains the leader in the segment by open interest, exceeding $5 billion, while its closest competitor, Aster, stands at $1.7 billion.
Hyperliquid also ranks first among perp-DEX platforms by trading volume. In the last 24 hours, the volume reached $5.4 billion, totaling $256.3 billion for the month.
Top 5 perp-DEX. Source: DefiLlama.
The platform regained its dominant position thanks to the launch of user markets HIP-3. At the beginning of February, the daily trading volume in this segment reached $5.2 billion, driven by a rally in the precious metals market.
As of mid-month, the figure stood at $261 million.
It’s worth noting that Hyperliquid developers supported the HIP-4 proposal, which aims to launch prediction markets on the platform.