HYPE Rallies Over 17% as Trump Says CFTC Is Working to Bring Hyperliquid to the US
Key Takeaways
- •HYPE rose more than 17% in 24 hours after Trump said the CFTC is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States.
- •The token moved from roughly $58 to above $70 and remains less than 10% below its record high of $76.95 set on June 16.
- •Hyperliquid runs on its own layer-1 blockchain and matches perpetual-futures orders entirely onchain.
- •No approval has been granted, and regulators have not said what registrations or compliance steps an onshore Hyperliquid would need.
- •The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee is meeting on the same day, giving Chairman Michael Selig a public forum shortly after Trump’s remarks.
HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange, has climbed more than 17% over the past 24 hours, rising from around $58 to a high of $72. The move came immediately after President Trump said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working to bring the decentralized exchange into the United States. The platform runs on its own purpose-built layer-1 blockchain and matches perpetual-futures orders entirely onchain, and no fully onchain venue currently holds CFTC exchange registration, which is what makes the prospect of bringing it onshore uncharted territory for the agency.
Trump made the comment on Wednesday at a White House gathering of executives from across the crypto, tech and finance industries. "I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion," he said, referring to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, and adding that Selig was working very hard on it.
JUST IN: hyperliquid:native has jumped over 17% to above $68 after President Trump said the CFTC is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a "fully compliant and legal fashion." This matters because the CFTC has already cleared US venues like Coinbase… pic.twitter.com/vScnKxvvGd
As of this writing, HYPE trades above $70, less than 10% below its all-time high of $76.95 set on June 16. Notably, nothing has been approved so far, and no comment has been made on what an onshore Hyperliquid would actually be, which registrations it would need, or how long that process would take.
The Room Included Some of the Platform's Loudest Critics
CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have in the past pressed regulators to scrutinize Hyperliquid over supposed price manipulation and sanctions exposure. The sanctions concern was sharpened in early 2025, when blockchain analysts traced funds stolen in the Bybit hack — attributed by investigators to North Korea's Lazarus Group — moving through the platform. Executives from that side of the market were present at the gathering on Wednesday, meaning Trump's backing of the platform came in the presence of some of its strongest critics, who had been seeking tighter rules for months.
US Access Is the Whole Point
The deepest and largest derivatives market in the world is in the United States, but Hyperliquid, despite controlling perp volume in the space, is still locked out of it. Access there would open the platform to a customer base and an entirely new pool of capital it has never seen. That access is also bound to test the platform's capabilities.
A venue built entirely outside US rules would have to show it can operate inside them, which means answering for exchange registration, customer identification, market surveillance and sanctions screening. In CFTC terms, that registration means a designated contract market or swap execution facility license, and the agency has shown before that serving US derivatives customers without one carries a cost: its 2023 case against Binance ended in a multibillion-dollar settlement. Perpetuals sit in derivatives territory, which is why the CFTC rather than the SEC is the regulator whose sign-off matters here.
The CFTC has already opened a path this year for regulated platforms such as Coinbase Derivatives and Kalshi to offer perp-style contracts, effectively reducing the distance between offshore perp markets and federally supervised ones. Selig has also already stated that regulators should expand existing rules to accommodate onchain platforms rather than have them operate offshore.
Oil Traders Found Hyperliquid Before Washington Did
Hyperliquid's expansion has stopped being a crypto-only story, and its reach now extends well beyond digital-asset natives. JPMorgan analysts have pointed to non-crypto traders using onchain perps for exposure to commodities such as oil at hours when traditional exchanges are shut. A geopolitical headline at 2 a.m. has somewhere to trade now. That behavior is the convergence case in practice, and it is also why exchange operators with fixed session hours are paying attention.
Selig Gets a Public Stage Hours After Trump's Remark
The CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural meeting today from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET, streamed on CFTC.gov, giving Selig a public stage only hours after the president's remark. The agenda covers crypto assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets, along with recent commission activity in those areas. The committee was set up in January 2026 to replace the Technology Advisory Committee, and its membership draws from Coinbase, Ripple and Gemini among others. Hyperliquid does not appear on the published agenda. Written comments remain open through August 27.
Traders will be watching whether Selig puts anything on the record that resembles what Trump described. A vague nod keeps the rally speculative. Anything specific on registration or a compliance framework changes what HYPE is pricing.
