Singapore Drops Hyperliquid Onto "Not Approved" List — Permissionless Mood Unchanged 🎭

The Monetary Authority of Singapore added decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid to its Investor Alert List on Friday, a consumer protection measure that flags entities which may be wrongly perceived as licensed or regulated by MAS. The entry covers the Hyper Foundation website and the Hyperliquid trading app. Inclusion on the list is not a ban, an enforcement action or a finding of misconduct. MAS added crypto exchange Bybit to the list on June 17, and KuCoin and Bitget also appear on the list.

Hyperliquid said it has never claimed to be licensed or authorized by MAS and that nothing about its permissionless infrastructure has changed. "The Hyperliquid ecosystem remains committed to engaging collaboratively and constructively with regulators and institutions globally and to supporting clear, well-designed frameworks for onchain finance," the platform wrote in a Friday X post. The protocol added that users continue to maintain self-custody of their assets while transactions settle transparently on-chain.

According to CoinGecko, Hyperliquid ranks as the ninth-largest decentralized exchange by trading volume, while DefiLlama estimates it holds about $5.7 billion in total value locked. Cointelegraph reached out to MAS for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Singapore has steadily tightened oversight of the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. In May 2025, MAS ordered crypto companies serving overseas customers to either obtain licenses or cease operations, describing the policy as a long-standing regulatory position rather than a shift in approach. The directive closed a loophole that had allowed some Singapore-based crypto firms to avoid licensing by serving only overseas customers. MAS said it had consistently communicated its position since 2022 and was ending the transition period for firms that had continued operating without a license.

The regulator maintains the Investor Alert List to help investors distinguish between regulated entities and those not authorized under Singapore's financial services framework, and updates it periodically as new information becomes available.