Hyperliquid has made an unusual move for a decentralized exchange: it is heading to Washington. The DeFi derivatives platform has launched the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) in Washington, D.C., structured as an independent research and advocacy nonprofit focused on decentralized finance and on-chain derivatives such as perpetual futures. The Hyper Foundation is seeding the effort with 1,000,000 HYPE tokens — valued at roughly $28 million to $29 million at launch — to fund early operations and build out a policy team that includes a chief of staff and government relations professionals. Jake Chervinsky, a well-known crypto policy lawyer, has announced its appointment as chief executive. It is an attempt to shape the rules that will govern decentralized exchanges and crypto derivatives in the United States. The question is whether this marks a turning point for DeFi’s path to mainstream acceptance — or simply the beginning of a new lobbying era for crypto-native firms. From Code to Congress For much of its history, DeFi operated on the assumption that code could outrun regulation. Protocols deployed on public blockchains were viewed as neutral infrastructure, beyond the practical reach of traditional oversight. By funding a dedicated policy organization, Hyperliquid acknowledges that DeFi’s next phase will be influenced in congressional hearings and agency rulemakings as much as in liquidity pools. The regulatory perimeter around decentralized exchanges is no longer theoretical. It is being defined in real time. How Policy Signals Can Affect PR Strategy Regulatory posture increasingly shapes product design, geographic strategy and capital allocation. A multimillion-dollar HYPE commitment to policy engagement underscores that governance risk now sits alongside smart contract risk and market volatility. Communications strategy must adapt as well. Regulatory milestones, enforcement signals and legislative drafts now drive narrative cycles as much as token listings or total value locked. Agencies advising crypto firms are recalibrating accordingly. Outset PR is a data-driven crypto PR agency that has built its model around tracking structural market shifts and aligning storytelling with those developments. Through its proprietary Outset Data Pulse intelligence, the agency monitors media trendlines, traffic distribution and momentum across crypto and financial outlets to determine when regulatory themes gain traction. Outset PR’s internal tracking tool, the Syndication Map, identifies which publications generate the strongest downstream pickup across aggregators such as CoinMarketCap and Binance Square, allowing campaigns to ride broader market narratives rather than compete against them. A New Phase of Crypto Lobbying Crypto advocacy is not new. What distinguishes HPC is its scale and focus. A $28 million to $29 million token allocation gives the center the capacity to hire experienced policy professionals and sustain long-term engagement. For a single DeFi exchange to commit that level of capital signals that regulatory dialogue is strategic infrastructure. For investors, this development may prove as consequential as price action. The future of DeFi derivatives in the United States will hinge not only on liquidity metrics, but on how policymakers define their legitimacy. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
