{"id":13337,"date":"2026-09-16T18:07:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337"},"modified":"2026-09-16T18:07:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:07:28","slug":"robinhood-engineers-face-up-to-30-years-over-50000-alleged-hyperliquid-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337","title":{"rendered":"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-cs-editorial-quote-scope=\"\" data-cs-image-viewer-scope=\"\" data-single-article-content=\"\">\n<p>Two Robinhood engineers were charged with using confidential token-listing information to place profitable crypto derivatives trades on Hyperliquid.<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 15, the Federal prosecutors accused Hefu Chai and Huaisong \u201cJerry\u201d Xiang of trading perpetual futures tied to tokens they allegedly knew Robinhood Crypto planned to list, earning more than $50,000 each.<\/p>\n<p>These charges extend insider-information enforcement into a part of crypto markets where confidential information held at one company can be monetized through derivatives traded on a separate decentralized platform.<\/p>\n<p>Both men face one count of commodities fraud and one count of wire fraud. The charges carry statutory maximum sentences of 10 years and 20 years, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Chai worked at Robinhood from about 2021 until May 2026 and served as a technical lead involved in new digital-asset listings, prosecutors said. Xiang worked as a software engineer from about 2024 through September 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Their positions allegedly gave them access to a private Slack channel containing upcoming listing plans. Both were designated \u201cCoin Aware Individuals,\u201d employees permitted to receive information about whether and when Robinhood Crypto would make new tokens available.<\/p>\n<p>Robinhood\u2019s policies barred those employees from trading while holding material nonpublic information and restricted them from trading affected assets on any platform before an announcement and for 24 hours afterward.<\/p>\n<p>US Attorney Jamie McDonald said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMisappropriating confidential information to trade in the derivatives markets for personal benefit is illegal. Today\u2019s charges make clear that corporate insiders cannot evade the securities and commodities laws by trading based on misappropriated information in derivatives like perpetual futures, tokenized securities, or other similar financial instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Prosecutors said Chai traded on at least 10 occasions between 2025 and January 2026. Xiang allegedly traded around a March 2025 POPCAT listing and on at least 10 other occasions through February 2026.<\/p>\n<aside id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter\" data-inline-newsletter=\"\" data-newsletter-placement=\"article-midpoint\" data-newsletter-pending-label=\"Joining\u2026\" data-newsletter-pending-status=\"Joining The Catalyst\u2026\" data-newsletter-email-required-message=\"Before sending, please provide your email address.\" aria-labelledby=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-title\" aria-describedby=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-copy\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__inner\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__content\"> <span class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__eyebrow\"> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-envelope\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> The Catalyst <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-title\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__title\">What\u2019s moving crypto. Why it matters.<\/h2>\n<p id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-copy\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__copy\">Get CryptoSlate\u2019s essential stories and what to watch next.<\/p>\n<p>  <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" fill=\"currentColor\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"> <path d=\"M15 3.604H1v1.891h14v-1.89ZM1 7.208V16l7-3.926L15 16V7.208zM15 0H1v1.89h14z\"\/> <\/svg> <span>Published on Substack<\/span> <\/div>\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__form-shell\">\n<p id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-1-privacy\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__privacy\">Seven days a week. Unsubscribe anytime.<\/p>\n<p> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-circle-xmark\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> <span>Whoops, looks like there was a problem. Please try again.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__success\" role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"> <span class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__success-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3 class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__success-title\">Check your inbox.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__success-copy\">Your signup request was sent. If confirmation is required, follow the email from Substack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__success-hint\">Look in spam or promotions if you don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2>Prosecutors focus on the window before Robinhood&#8217;s public announcements<\/h2>\n<p>The government\u2019s case centers on the gap between when a token became tradable on Robinhood and when the company publicly announced the listing.<\/p>\n<p>Robinhood tokens could begin trading as much as an hour before an announcement, prosecutors said, creating a window in which employees with advance knowledge could potentially exit positions before the broader market received the news.<\/p>\n<p>In one example, Xiang allegedly learned around Jan. 23, 2026, that Robinhood planned to list RENDER on Jan. 29. Prosecutors said he opened long RENDER perpetual-futures positions around the listing date and closed them at a profit after the token became available on Robinhood but before the public announcement.<\/p>\n<p>Chai allegedly used a similar strategy involving HYPE. Prosecutors said he learned around Oct. 16, 2025, that Robinhood planned to list the token the following week, then opened HYPE perpetual positions around Oct. 23 and exited profitably after trading began on Robinhood but before the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>Those trades were placed on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives venue where perpetual futures allow traders to speculate on token prices without holding the underlying assets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cs-article-embed\">\n<p> <span class=\"cs-article-embed__related-reading\">Related Reading<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"cs-article-embed__title\">US rule rewrite looms for $200B on-chain venue Hyperliquid as Trump signals onshore approval<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"cs-article-embed__arrow\" aria-hidden=\"true\"> <i class=\"fa-light fa-arrow-up-right\"\/> <\/span> <\/div>\n<p>The case now puts the alleged use of confidential listing information in decentralized derivatives markets before a federal court, potentially testing how prosecutors apply commodities-fraud statutes when the information source and trading venue are separate.<\/p>\n<p>Robinhood cooperated with the investigation, the Justice Department said. The company may also face pressure to reassess how it segments listing information internally and monitors employee trading restrictions across external crypto venues as prosecutors pursue the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Crime,Exchanges,Featured,Legal,Hyperliquid,payments,RobinhoodHyperliquid,payments,Robinhood#Robinhood #engineers #face #years #alleged #Hyperliquid #profits1789582048<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Robinhood engineers were charged with using confidential token-listing information to place profitable crypto derivatives trades on Hyperliquid. On Sept. 15, the Federal prosecutors accused Hefu Chai and Huaisong \u201cJerry\u201d Xiang of trading perpetual futures tied to tokens they allegedly knew Robinhood Crypto planned to list, earning more than $50,000 each. These charges extend insider-information<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3074,6973,1229,281,167,3944,1923,742],"class_list":["post-13337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ethereum","tag-alleged","tag-engineers","tag-face","tag-hyperliquid","tag-payments","tag-profits","tag-robinhood","tag-years"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-16T18:07:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337\",\"name\":\"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-16T18:07:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf\"},\"description\":\"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\",\"name\":\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"description\":\"Latest Crypto &amp; Bitcoin News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf\",\"name\":\"\u884c\u653f\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u884c\u653f\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/coinbase\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","description":"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits","og_description":"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337","og_site_name":"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","article_published_time":"2026-09-16T18:07:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"\u884c\u653f","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u884c\u653f","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337","name":"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp","datePublished":"2026-09-16T18:07:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf"},"description":"Two Robinhood employees face commodities-fraud and wire-fraud charges over Hyperliquid trades tied to confidential token listings.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/crypto-listing-court-case.webp","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13337#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robinhood engineers face up to 30 years over $50,000 alleged Hyperliquid profits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/","name":"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","description":"Latest Crypto &amp; Bitcoin News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf","name":"\u884c\u653f","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u884c\u653f"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/coinbase"],"url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}