Singapore Says "Halt"; Hyperliquid Says "Self-Custody, Bro" 🧃

Hyperliquid has drawn public criticism from Forward Industries chairman Kyle Samani over its permissionless branding, days after Singapore's financial regulator added the perpetual futures exchange to its Investor Alert List. The Monetary Authority of Singapore placed Hyperliquid on the IAL on June 26, flagging the platform as an entity that residents may mistakenly perceive as licensed or MAS-authorized. The IAL carries no ban or enforcement weight and signals that local users may not receive MAS protections if something goes wrong on the platform. Bybit received the same warning earlier in June.

Hyperliquid responded to the Singapore IAL listing, stating that it has never claimed MAS licensing or authorization. The platform said users retain full self-custody and that all transactions settle transparently on-chain, adding that nothing about the network has changed. The MAS has been tightening oversight of offshore exchanges throughout 2026, ordering unlicensed platforms to seek regulatory approval or cease operations accessible to Singapore residents.

Samani rejected the protocol's permissionless framing. "Hyperliquid is not permissionless. Stop gaslighting the public," he wrote on June 26, arguing that genuine permissionlessness requires the protocol to be open source and for validators to operate globally rather than from a concentrated location. He also raised governance concerns, stating that the Hyperliquid Foundation can jail validators and remove them from the active set without justification and can push forced software upgrades on validators, which he described as a violation of validator sovereignty. Hyperliquid's current network runs 24 active validators with a planned expansion to 27, and its node repository distributes a signed binary rather than full source code, with the team stating that open-sourcing will follow once HyperCore reaches feature completion.

Samani's public position comes with personal context: he exited Multicoin Capital in February 2026, and his former firm held notable exposure to competing protocols. Critics have previously raised similar decentralization concerns about Hyperliquid, and the platform has typically maintained its position. Hyperliquid's response to pressure from regulators and industry critics may shape its standing with institutional users in the months ahead, particularly as MAS continues its 2026 oversight push across offshore venues serving Singapore residents.