The U.S. House Oversight Committee, chaired by James Comer, has broadened its inquiry into insider trading on trading and prediction platforms, sending information requests to Hyperliquid, Crypto.com and Aristotle Exchange, the operator of PredictIt. For European users of these platforms, the probe raises fresh questions about how exchanges outside the EU's regulatory perimeter monitor trading ahead of market-moving political statements.

The committee is seeking details on how each platform verifies user identity, restricts access by geography, detects suspicious trading activity, and flags users with potential access to non-public government information.

The trade at the centre of the inquiry

At issue is a leveraged short position of roughly $1,100 million opened on Hyperliquid in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) perpetual contracts, built about 30 hours before Donald Trump announced on October 10, 2025 an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The announcement triggered a sharp market crash, and the position reportedly generated a profit of more than $150 million.

Blockchain analytics platform Arkham identified the wallet's trading activity, and investigators have linked one associated address to Garrett Jin, the former chief executive of BitForex. Jin has denied responsibility for the operation, stating that the funds belonged to a client.

What each platform must disclose

Hyperliquid has been asked to provide records on identity verification, geographic restrictions, trading surveillance systems, suspicious activity reports, and any users linked to access to government information. Crypto.com must supply information on its identification mechanisms and on employee trading activity ahead of corporate announcements. The PredictIt investigation, meanwhile, covers wagers on political events and the systems in place to report suspicious transactions.

Part of a wider sweep

The three requests extend an investigation into the use of non-public or classified information on prediction markets that began in May 2026. As part of that broader effort, the Oversight Committee says it has already received nearly 1,000 documents and five briefings from rival platforms Polymarket and Kalshi.

Hyperliquid, Crypto.com and Aristotle Exchange have been given until October 13 to submit the requested information to the committee.