One of crypto’s fastest-rising tokens got a major Wall Street seal of approval this week. HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid trading network, jumped by about 17% on Thursday after Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, announced plans to run regulated US markets built on Hyperliquid’s technology.
The move is the latest sign of traditional finance borrowing from the crypto world, and it comes at a turbulent time for digital assets more broadly.
What ICE actually announced
In a statement on Thursday 29 October, ICE said it had signed a definitive agreement with Trade[XYZ], a firm that builds markets on Hyperliquid, to bring Trade[XYZ]’s perpetual futures “onshore” in the United States. ICE will take a minority stake in Trade[XYZ], of undisclosed size, and will be the exclusive operator of a new, dedicated regulated market and clearing house for these products.
Perpetual futures, or “perps”, are derivatives that let traders bet on the price of an asset, often with leverage, without an expiry date. They are hugely popular on offshore crypto exchanges but have been largely out of reach for ordinary US investors through regulated venues. ICE said the new market would offer perpetual contracts tied to equities, stock indices, commodities and currencies, and would be aimed squarely at retail traders, including many who currently trade offshore. Customers would have to pass identity and anti-money-laundering checks.
ICE chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Sprecher said the company saw the products as “additive to our futures markets, not a replacement for them”.
The key caveat is that everything is subject to regulatory approval. ICE did not name a regulator or give a timeline, and said it does not expect the deal to materially affect its 2026 financial results.
How the token reacted
HYPE rose 17.4% to about $93.74 on Thursday, according to CoinGecko data cited by crypto.news, trading in a 24-hour range of $78.11 to $94.35. That put it within roughly 4% of its all-time high of $97.96 and gave it a market value of about $22.4 billion.
Under the arrangement described by crypto.news, Hyperliquid supplies the underlying infrastructure, Trade[XYZ] designs the markets and ICE runs the regulated trading and clearing. On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that several large holders opened leveraged long positions on HYPE worth a combined $52.7 million after the news, the outlet said.
Why it matters, and the risks
For crypto enthusiasts, the deal is a sign that decentralised finance infrastructure is being taken seriously by the biggest names in market plumbing. ICE already runs one of the world’s largest futures businesses, and plans to distribute the new products through partners including its joint venture with crypto exchange OKX, which itself still needs US approvals.
But a sharp one-day jump on deal news is no guarantee of lasting gains. The plans depend on approvals that have not yet been sought, let alone granted, and the products themselves are leveraged derivatives, which can magnify losses as well as gains. The wider crypto market has also been volatile this week following the hack at Binance.
For readers in Ireland, the planned ICE market would be a US product for US-verified customers; it would not change what Irish retail investors can access. In the EU, crypto-asset service providers are regulated under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, and Irish investors should check that any platform they use is authorised.
What happens next
The next milestone is the regulatory process. ICE and Trade[XYZ] said they intend to seek the approvals needed, including for leveraged trading, and no launch date has been set. Investors will also be watching whether HYPE can push through its previous record, and whether other exchange groups follow ICE into perpetual futures.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Crypto-assets are highly volatile and you could lose all the money you invest.
Sources
- Intercontinental Exchange: Intercontinental Exchange and Trade[XYZ] to Bring Hyperliquid-Based Perpetual Markets Onshore (29 October 2026)
- crypto.news: Hyperliquid price jumps 17% as ICE plans US perpetual markets (29 October 2026)
Featured image: photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash.
Leave a Reply