Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) — the operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — is preparing to bring Hyperliquid's round-the-clock markets to the U.S. market. This event instantly reshaped sentiment around the HYPE token and drew the attention of the most authoritative figures on Wall Street.
The market reaction was swift. Within 24 hours, the Hyperliquid token under the ticker HYPE rose 19.9% to $95.89. Shares of Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), a Nasdaq company that owns HYPE, gained 21.8%.
Hyperliquid and restrictions for Americans
Hyperliquid is a trading platform on its own blockchain where traders can bet on the price of stocks, oil, gold, currencies, and cryptocurrencies at any time of day. It is built on perpetual contracts, while instruments with a predetermined expiration date track the price of the asset. Trade[XYZ], one of the companies listing such contracts, reported that trading volume on its markets exceeded $650 billion in just over a year.
American users do not yet have access to the platform. However, ICE has agreed to launch a regulated version of Hyperliquid for the U.S., subject to approval. The company is also acquiring a minority stake in Trade[XYZ].
Three reactions
Stanley Druckenmiller announced investments in Trade[XYZ]. "I am excited to be an investor in trade(xyz), which together with ICE is bringing round-the-clock perpetual futures on Hyperliquid to the U.S. market," the billionaire said.
Elon Musk shared this post, commenting with one word: "Interesting."
Druckenmiller's family office Duquesne reported holding 2.94 million PURR shares as of June 30 — about $23 million.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes buyers are still at an early stage. "If you see $HYPE up 14% and think you've already missed the wave, keep in mind: 99.9% of Americans don't know it exists," he noted.
Bitwise manages a HYPE fund on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with an annual fee of 0.34% of assets.
The rally on the news quickly faded. After the report that Kraken plans to launch Hyperliquid perpetual contracts on September 17, the HYPE price set a record — $97.96. By October 26, the token was already trading around $76.
The ICE venue has still not received approval and has not announced a launch date.
Cryptalist analysis: ICE's entry into the Hyperliquid market is an institutional legitimization of the perpetual contracts sector, which could radically expand the investor base through American capital. However, the lack of regulatory approval and the price pullback already observed after the news impulse indicate that the market is pricing in expectations rather than facts. Investors should evaluate HYPE through the lens of the timing and probability of the venue's approval, rather than through short-term volatility.