Which Countries Does Hyperliquid Restrict?

Hyperliquid restricts the United States, Ontario, Canada, and sanctioned jurisdictions. Its Terms of Use, section 1.5, “Restricted Persons,” states this under the Interface access rules.

Hyperliquid Restricted Countries List in 2026

Hyperliquid’s official list is not fully enumerated, but its Terms identify named jurisdictions plus sanctioned or export-controlled territories covered by applicable rules.

Why Does Hyperliquid Restrict These Countries?

Hyperliquid restricts these jurisdictions to reduce exposure to sanctions, export-control, derivatives, securities, AML, and local financial-services rules, especially because its Interface supports access to onchain perpetual futures and spot markets.

1. Sanctions and Export-Control Risk

Hyperliquid’s Terms restrict users from jurisdictions subject to economic and trade sanctions or export-control laws, which is why sanctioned countries and regions are treated differently from generally supported markets.

Key sanctions-related reasons include:

• OFAC: The Office of Foreign Assets Control administers U.S. sanctions programs that can be comprehensive or selective, using asset blocking and trade restrictions for foreign-policy and national-security goals.
• SDN List: The OFAC Sanctions List Search helps screen blocked persons and entities, which matters for crypto interfaces that need to avoid sanctioned users, wallets, or counterparties.
• Country Scope: OFAC explains that it does not maintain one simple list of countries U.S. persons cannot do business with, so restrictions often depend on specific sanctions programs.
• Export Controls: The Bureau of Industry and Security oversees U.S. export-control rules, which is relevant because Hyperliquid’s Terms mention export-control laws alongside sanctions.
• Citizenship: Hyperliquid’s Terms also cover citizens of Restricted Territories, regardless of location, reducing attempts to bypass restrictions through travel, relocation, or VPN access.
• Interface: Hyperliquid Corp. says it provides the website-hosted Interface, not the underlying decentralized blockchain, so restrictions apply specifically to that front-end access point.

2. Derivatives and Local Financial Regulation

Hyperliquid also restricts certain markets because perpetual futures, leverage, and crypto trading access can trigger licensing, registration, consumer-protection, and derivatives-law obligations in major jurisdictions.

Key regulatory reasons include:

• CFTC: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates U.S. virtual-currency futures and says intermediaries facilitating those instruments must be registered with the CFTC and NFA.
• NFA: The National Futures Association is relevant because CFTC guidance refers to CFTC and NFA registration for intermediaries involved in virtual-currency futures activity.
• SEC: The Securities and Exchange Commission remains central to U.S. crypto-asset oversight where tokens, platforms, or trading activity may implicate securities laws.
• OSC: The Ontario Securities Commission says crypto businesses operating in Ontario may need to register, which helps explain why Ontario is separately named in Hyperliquid’s Terms.
• CSA: The Canadian Securities Administrators maintain a list of crypto platforms authorized to do business with Canadians, showing why Canada-facing access can require local authorization.
• User Compliance: Hyperliquid’s Terms place responsibility on users to determine whether their access complies with local laws, including laws governing leveraged or derivative trading.

Hyperliquid Supported Countries

Hyperliquid is effectively supported in about 190 countries, based on its Terms excluding the United States, Ontario, Canada, and sanctioned or export-controlled jurisdictions. The platform has reached roughly 1.2 million cumulative users, reflecting strong global demand for wallet-based onchain derivatives.

Hyperliquid supports 100+ perpetual futures and spot assets, according to its own app description, with markets running on a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain using fully onchain order books. The supported asset count changes as new perps, spot pairs, and builder-deployed markets launch.

According to Similarweb, Hyperliquid’s largest traffic sources are the United States at 22.59%, Singapore at 7.45%, Hong Kong at 6.43%, South Korea at 3.95%, France at 3.45%, and others at 56.13%.

Is Hyperliquid Available in the US?

No. Hyperliquid’s Interface is not available to users who reside in, are located in, incorporated in, or have a registered office in the United States. Its Terms classify those users as “Restricted Persons,” preventing U.S. access through the official front end.

High U.S. traffic does not necessarily mean permitted trading; it can reflect research, returning users, VPNs, media interest, or app discovery. Meanwhile, U.S. perps are developing through regulated CEXs, including Coinbase’s U.S. “perpetual-style” futures and wider CFTC rule discussions.

Does Hyperliquid Require KYC?

Hyperliquid does not require traditional KYC for eligible users. Traders connect a non-custodial wallet rather than creating an exchange account, which means there is no standard email, identity document, selfie, or address-verification flow.

However, “no KYC” does not mean unrestricted access. Hyperliquid’s Terms still block Restricted Persons, and users remain responsible for confirming that local laws allow their trading, especially where leveraged or derivative products are regulated.

In addition, KYC (or Know Your Business) is required for those wishing to participate as validators in the Hyper Foundation Delegation Program. To be eligible, applicants must have at least 10,000 HYPE, maintain a high-uptime infrastructure, and follow jurisdictional restrictions.

Hyperliquid Licenses and Regulation

Hyperliquid is not presented as a traditionally licensed centralized exchange. Its ToS say Hyperliquid Corp. provides the website-hosted Interface, while the underlying Hyperliquid blockchain is decentralized, permissionless, community-driven, and executed by validators rather than the company.

That structure does not remove regulatory risk. Hyperliquid restricts U.S., Ontario, sanctioned, and export-controlled users, while section 1.6 makes users responsible for determining whether their activity complies with local laws governing leveraged or derivative trading.

Was Hyperliquid Hacked?

Hyperliquid has not reported a conventional protocol hack, but several market-manipulation and liquidation incidents caused losses or bad debt for its HLP liquidity vault.

Major Hyperliquid security and market incidents include:

• ETH Whale: In March 2025, an oversized ETH position reportedly created roughly $4 million of HLP stress after forced unwinding, exposing liquidation-risk concentration.
• JELLY: In March 2025, the JELLY incident involved manipulated low-liquidity exposure, reported losses around $12 million to $13.5 million, and emergency market intervention.
• POPCAT: In November 2025, coordinated POPCAT trading created about $4.9 million in bad debt, with Hyperliquid temporarily pausing Arbitrum bridge deposits and withdrawals.
• XPL: In April 2026, coordinated wallets allegedly exploited thin XPL liquidity, extracting multi-million-dollar gains while HLP absorbed roughly $600,000 in losses.
• FARTCOIN: In April 2026, a FARTCOIN liquidation attack reportedly left HLP down about $1.5 million after a sharp rally, crash, and liquidation cascade.

About Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange and high-performance Layer 1 blockchain built for a fully onchain financial system. Its core product is a central-limit-order-book trading venue for crypto perpetuals and spot assets, with settlement and activity handled onchain.

Hyperliquid was founded in 2023 by Jeff Yan, widely reported as the founder of Hyperliquid Labs and previously associated with Chameleon Trading. The project gained traction after FTX’s collapse by focusing on self-custodial, high-performance derivatives trading.

Its ecosystem includes spot markets, perpetual futures, HYPE, HyperEVM, vaults, and builder-deployed markets. Hyperliquid has also expanded into TradFi-style perps, including gold, oil, silver, S&P 500 exposure through Trade[XYZ], and other non-crypto markets.

Final Thoughts

Before using Hyperliquid, users should confirm they are not in a restricted jurisdiction, understand local derivatives rules, create a compatible non-custodial wallet, fund it safely, and review leverage, liquidation, and smart-contract risks.

Eligible users can then connect their wallet, bridge supported funds, choose spot or perpetual markets, set risk limits, and start with small positions before using advanced tools, vaults, or higher-leverage strategies.