Who would have believed it! A word from Donald Trump, spoken in front of the leaders of Coinbase, Ripple and Robinhood, was enough to shake up the crypto market. The American president says that the CFTC is currently working on a legal entry route for Hyperliquid. It is the leading decentralized perpetual contract platform. Certainly, no regulatory approval has yet been granted. Nevertheless, the market reaction was immediate: the HYPE token jumped 11%.
In brief
- Donald Trump says CFTC Chairman Mike Selig is working toward a “compliant and legal” entry of Hyperliquid into the United States.
- The crypto HYPE reacts upwards, with divergent measures depending on the sources (+11% for CoinDesk, +6% over 24 hours for BeInCrypto).
- No approval has been formally announced: the CFTC must provide details at its meeting on August 20.
Trump places Hyperliquid crypto platform at the center of the CFTC’s agenda
The announcement dates from Wednesday August 19, during an event organized at the White House around the leaders of the crypto and technology sector. Trump said:
I understand that Mike Selig is also working on bringing Hyperliquid into the US in a fully compliant and legal manner, he is working very hard on this.
This meeting is all the more important insofar as it saw the participation of several crypto personalities :
- Mike Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the American regulator of derivatives markets;
- Paul Atkins, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
- Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase;
- Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple;
- Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood.
Added to the list are representatives from Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized crypto exchange specialized in perpetual contracts or “perps”. These derivative products allow you to bet on the price of a crypto asset without a deadline or traditional intermediary. To do this, users directly connect their crypto wallet to the platform.
To date, Hyperliquid blocks access to its services to US residents whom it classifies as “restricted individuals” in its terms of use.
Trump’s statement comes at a pivotal moment
The CFTC is organizing this Thursday, August 20, the very first meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee in Washington. The agenda covers:
- crypto-assets;
- artificial intelligence;
- prediction markets.
In his speechSelig indicated that he would take this opportunity to provide further clarification on the regulatory roadmap.
The ground was therefore prepared in advance. The Hyperliquid Policy Center and wallet provider Phantom jointly addressed a petition at the CFTC in July. The subject: a request for DeFi protocols to be exempt from the rules usually applied to traditional crypto exchanges.
This approach is part of a broader movement: the CFTC has already authorized Coinbase Derivatives to offer perpetual type futures on bitcoin and Ethereum since April 2025. The same is true for the Kalshi prediction market platform.
Bringing Hyperliquid itself into the United States, however, is a completely different matter. The fact is that US derivatives exchanges are subject to registration, customer protection and market surveillance requirements. Until now, these constraints have held many crypto platforms away from the American market.
The crypto market reacts quickly: HYPE explodes by more than 10%
Certainly, the scale of the movement differs depending on the sources. Nevertheless, they converge towards one point: the considerable increase in price of the HYPE token.
- CoinDesk measures an 11% jump in the HYPE token after Trump’s statement.
- BeInCrypto reports an increase of more than 6% over 24 hours.
At the time of writing, Hyperliquid is trading around $69. Its value increased by more than 19% in the space of 24 hours.
There market capitalization of HYPE now reaches approximately $15.1 billion. Which positions it tenth among crypto assets. The token has even already surpassed Dogecoin last May to settle in this top 10.
Decryption: Hyperliquid occupies a growing place in the crypto ecosystem.
What impact for the Hyperliquid crypto platform?
Legal access to the American crypto market would represent an issue that goes beyond the simple announcement effect. The reason is that American traders make up the deepest derivatives market in the world. An opening in this territory could therefore channel additional volumes and costs towards the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
This could also further legitimize the model of decentralized perpetual contracts against traditional players like CME Group. The latter historically dominates this segment via centralized and regulated structures.
However, this perspective is not unanimous. According to several reports, CME Group and ICE have lobbied for a reinforced control of Hyperliquid. The latter cite risks of market manipulation and exposure to sanctions.
Compliance issues are also not yet resolved. User registration is difficult to apply to a non-custodial and entirely on-chain order book. The same goes for know-your-customer (KYC) checks and leverage limits imposed on traditional crypto exchanges.
In any case, Trump’s announcement reflects a real interest on the part of the CFTC to integrate Hyperliquid into the American regulatory framework. However, it constitutes neither an approval nor a timetable. The August 20 meeting will be the first concrete test. It will define the next trajectory of crypto HYPE. File to follow closely…
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