Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token climbed from about $62 to as high as $72 on Thursday, a gain of more than 20%, after President Donald Trump said regulators were working on a compliant U.S. pathway for the decentralized exchange. The move came as options trading tied to a Hyperliquid treasury company drew attention after an unusual call-buying surge hours before Trump’s remarks.

Trump made the comments on Wednesday night during a White House event, saying:

“I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion. Working very hard on that.”

He was referring to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig. The CFTC oversees U.S. derivatives markets and registers intermediaries such as exchanges and brokers; how a decentralized exchange would map onto categories written for traditional, intermediary-based firms remains an open question. Following the remarks, HYPE traded near $70, while 24-hour trading volume reached $1.4 billion, according to CoinGecko.

A $65,000 options trade that stood out

Roughly four hours before Trump spoke, a trader paid about $65,000 for 719 call options on Hyperliquid Strategies, the Nasdaq-listed HYPE treasury company trading under the ticker PURR, according to CNBC. Treasury companies — publicly traded firms that raise capital to hold a single crypto asset — have proliferated since the playbook was popularized by MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchases beginning in 2020, letting stock investors gain token exposure without holding the asset directly. The contracts carried an $8 strike price and expire in mid-October. Each contract reportedly cost about $0.90 and ended the session valued at $2.45, implying an unrealized paper gain of roughly $111,000.

Options Price Reporting Authority data cited by OptiView showed that 2,575 of the October $8 calls changed hands during the session. That was more than 140 times the contract’s 30-day average volume and came against just 67 contracts of open interest before the activity. The surge was notable relative to the contract’s usual thin trading and quickly drew scrutiny from market participants.

Although Hyperliquid Strategies shares part of its name with the protocol, the company has said it operates independently and is not affiliated with Hyperliquid itself. Shares of Hyperliquid Strategies closed Wednesday at $9.39, up 30.4% on the day.

No evidence of insider trading has been established

The unusual pre-announcement call buying raised questions about who may have known what and when, but the publicly available options data does not identify the buyer or prove that the trade was based on nonpublic information. Unusual options activity ahead of market-moving news has repeatedly attracted regulatory scrutiny in U.S. equities markets over the years, though elevated volume on its own does not establish wrongdoing.

The CFTC had already disclosed a July 15 meeting with Hyperliquid Labs and Hyperliquid Strategies, indicating that regulatory contact between the parties predated Trump’s comments by more than a month. That disclosure, however, is not evidence of a leak.

JUST IN: Hyperliquid surges 19% from $57 to $69 after Trump confirms the CFTC is working to onshore the world's largest decentralized exchange. HYPE currently blocks ALL American users, and approval would unlock a platform processing over $200 BILLION a month for US traders. pic.twitter.com/vl3jADqL4p — Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) August 19, 2026

As of now, neither the CFTC nor Hyperliquid has published a formal proposal explaining how U.S. access would work, whether an application has been filed, or when, if ever, a compliant product might launch.

The uncertainty around potential CFTC oversight of decentralized platforms comes amid broader debate over how decentralized finance fits into existing regulatory frameworks, including the SEC’s delayed crypto regulation vote.

For HYPE holders, Trump’s remarks acted as a catalyst without a confirmed outcome. Hyperliquid has also recently come under scrutiny over its revenue and treasury dynamics, and the latest options activity adds a regulatory dimension to an already volatile situation. Until the CFTC or Hyperliquid provides specifics, the trade remains a sign of positioning rather than proof of what comes next.