Jake Chervinsky says Hyperliquid is infrastructure, not an exchange

Jake Chervinsky wants to clear something up: Hyperliquid does not run an exchange. Speaking around TOKEN2049 in Singapore, the CEO of the Hyperliquid Policy Center described the protocol as neutral public infrastructure that anyone can build trading products on top of. That distinction sounds like semantics. In crypto regulation, semantics often decide who needs a license and who doesn’t. One level below the storefront In an interview on October 7, Chervinsky said Hyperliquid’s protocol operates beneath the customer-facing platforms that traders actually use. He placed it “one level below” exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken. He also said the network is “not meant to compete” with those businesses. Under that framing, regulated entities, including traditional exchanges, can build their own products on Hyperliquid’s technology. The exchange handles customers, onboarding and compliance. The protocol handles the plumbing. Chervinsky reached for familiar comparisons to make the point. He likened Hyperliquid’s infrastructure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, arguing that, like those networks, it does not need to register as an exchange. A ten-year deadline for the old guard Chervinsky did not sto...