Hyperliquid Policy Committee urges EU to fold on-chain perps into MiFID II

The Hyperliquid Policy Committee has taken its lobbying show to Brussels. On October 1, 2026, the group filed its first formal submission with the European Commission, answering a consultation on how the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework should evolve. The pitch is refreshingly unglamorous. Don’t write new laws, the committee argues. Use the ones Europe already has. What the committee actually asked for The centerpiece of the filing concerns on-chain perpetual contracts, better known as perps. These are derivatives that let traders bet on an asset’s price without an expiry date. The HPC wants them brought under MiFID II, the EU’s existing rulebook for financial instruments and trading venues. Bolting perps onto MiFID II, rather than drafting fresh legislation, is the committee’s preferred route. It also suggests the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issue guidance on how MiFID II should apply to these products. Two principles anchor the argument: technology neutrality and economic substance. Put simply, regulators should judge a product by what it does, not by whether it runs on a blockchain or a bank server. That framing matters because of what the HPC wants...