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An independent advocacy group tied to the Hyperliquid ecosystem is making its case to Washington: let traders bet on IPO prices before companies actually go public, and do it on-chain.
The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) and trade[XYZ] submitted a comment letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on August 18, urging the agency to build a regulatory framework around what they’re calling IPOPs, or pre-IPO perpetual contracts. These are cash-settled derivative instruments that reference anticipated public company listings, settling in USDC rather than delivering any actual shares.
What exactly are IPOPs
The contracts don’t grant ownership rights, voting power, or any allocation in the actual IPO. What they do provide is a continuous, market-implied valuation for private companies that operates around the clock.
Five active IPOP markets currently operate on the Hyperliquid platform through trade[XYZ]’s HIP-3 deployment. Among the most notable are SpaceX (trading under the ticker SPCX) and Cerebras (CBRS), two companies whose pre-IPO perpetual prices have closely tracked their actual IPO opening levels.
The numbers behind the petition
Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO markets have generated approximately $1.46 billion in cumulative trading volume, with open interest sitting around $106 million as of early June. The SpaceX IPOP launched on May 18 and quickly became one of the most closely watched contracts in the market.
trade[XYZ] has been the primary contributor to these volumes, operating as the interface layer between Hyperliquid’s on-chain infrastructure and the IPOP market structure. The HIP-3 deployment framework handles the listing and settlement mechanics, while the perpetual contract design eliminates the expiration dynamics that complicate traditional futures.
The regulatory chess game
This isn’t HPC’s first conversation with the SEC. The group, founded in February 2026 under CEO Jake Chervinsky, met with the SEC’s Crypto Task Force on July 14 to discuss perpetual markets more broadly. The comment letter represents the next step in what appears to be a deliberate, multi-touch regulatory engagement strategy.
The letter itself isn’t just a plea for approval. HPC included specific recommendations around disclosures, listing standards, leverage limits, and safeguards against market manipulation.
One of the more politically interesting elements: the letter advocates for retail investor access. In traditional finance, pre-IPO exposure has been almost exclusively the domain of venture capital funds, institutional allocators, and high-net-worth individuals. The pitch here is that IPOPs democratize that access without requiring anyone to actually hold pre-IPO shares.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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