Author: Claude, Shenchao TechFlow
DeepOcean Summary: Jeff Sprecher, founder and CEO of ICE (parent company of the NYSE), publicly praised Hyperliquid at the Bernstein Investor Conference on May 27, calling it “bigger than Nasdaq” and stating, “I wish I were younger so I could get involved myself.” This remark came just 12 days after ICE joined CME in lobbying the CFTC to crack down on Hyperliquid. Sprecher also revealed that the NYSE has secretly integrated a blockchain settlement system. The HYPE token reached a new all-time high of $64 this week, and the two spot ETFs have attracted over $100 million in assets within 10 days of launch, while its DAT company PURR has been selected for the Russell 3000 Index.
On May 27, Jeff Sprecher, founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), offered a rare, emotionally charged evaluation of Hyperliquid during an interview at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decision Conference.
“Hyperliquid, which we’re discussing here—if you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s bigger than Nasdaq, okay? Eleven people. When you see this, you’ll say, wow, that’s incredible,” said Sprecher. He added: “I love this. I wish I were younger so I could jump in and do it myself. By the way, people behind this are becoming billionaires in droves.”
ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, also operates one of the world’s largest energy futures markets. Sprecher’s statement represents the most direct public endorsement of Hyperliquid to date from the highest levels of traditional finance.
Twelve days ago, a coordinated lobbying effort targeted them; now, the CEO has completely changed his tone.
The praise from Sprecher caused a stir because of the timeline.
On May 15, according to Bloomberg, CME and ICE executives warned CFTC and congressional officials that Hyperliquid’s decentralized perpetual contracts trading may pose risks of market manipulation and sanctions evasion, urging its inclusion under traditional financial regulatory frameworks. Following the report, HYPE dropped nearly 9%.
Just 12 days later, the head of ICE publicly expressed admiration at one of Wall Street’s most important investor conferences.
At the Bernstein conference, Speaker directly addressed this contradiction: “An article made it seem like we were frightened. We are not frightened. In fact, we are engaging with these people, understanding what they are doing. They are learning about our world, and we are learning about theirs. In that sense, it’s mutual admiration.”
But he quickly shifted the topic to the core demand from regulators: “What we’re asking regulators is, why can’t we do the same? Why are you prohibiting us after it has already happened? Can we have a level playing field? This administration strongly supports digitization. If you think it’s legal, let us do it too; if you think it’s illegal, why haven’t they received the same harsh letters you sent us?”
This passage reveals ICE’s true rationale for lobbying the CFTC: not to shut down Hyperliquid, but to seek regulatory relief that would allow traditional exchanges to participate in the on-chain derivatives market.
The night before SpaceX's IPO: Hyperliquid becomes the "shadow pricing venue"
The speaker’s interest in Hyperliquid is not general; he has a very specific observation: SpaceX is set to list on Nasdaq on June 12 with an estimated valuation of approximately $1.75 trillion, and derivatives contracts for SpaceX are already trading on Hyperliquid.
“I think what really took it to the next level was SpaceX—they’ve already launched trading of SpaceX derivatives. It will be fascinating to see what price the private market discovers when SpaceX is officially priced on June 11, and whether that price influences the IPO itself,” said Sprecher. “Regulators and market participants will say it’s either completely irrelevant or highly relevant.”
He then calculated an extreme scenario: given that Hyperliquid allows up to 100:1 leverage, if retail traders flood into SpaceX derivatives, the on-chain notional exposure could potentially exceed the size of the IPO itself.
So I’m saying you can’t ignore it. I don’t yet know whether we should embrace it or reject it, but I think we’ll have the answer by June.
HYPE ETF has raised $100 million in its first 10 days, and PURR has been selected for the Russell 3000.
Sprecher's statement comes at a pivotal moment for Hyperliquid, as it undergoes intense mainstream adoption.
On May 12 and 15, 21Shares and Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot HYPE ETFs on Nasdaq and the NYSE, respectively, under the tickers THYP and BHYP. According to Bitcoin.com, within the first 10 trading days, the two funds attracted combined net inflows exceeding $100 million, capturing 1.04% of HYPE’s total market capitalization—outperforming the initial launch performances of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs on a market-cap-weighted basis. On May 27, Bitwise recorded a single-day net inflow of $19.05 million, becoming the world’s largest HYPE ETF.
On May 22, FTSE Russell announced the preliminary list for the June 2026 Russell US Index reconstitution, with Hyperliquid Strategies (Nasdaq ticker: PURR) appearing on the addition list for the Russell 3000 Index, effective June 26.
PURR is currently the largest HYPE token treasury company, holding approximately 20 million HYPE tokens (valued at about $799 million as of April 29) and $103 million in cash, with no liabilities. Inclusion in the Russell 3000 means passive funds tracking this index will automatically purchase PURR, further strengthening the transmission channel from HYPE to traditional capital markets.
The HYPE token briefly surpassed $64 this week, reaching a new all-time high and rising approximately 150% this year—far outperforming Bitcoin over the same period. According to CoinGecko data, HYPE’s current market capitalization is around $12.7 billion, ranking it tenth among crypto assets.
Jeff Yan traveled to Washington, and the Hyperliquid Policy Center stood firm in direct confrontation.
Faced with lobbying pressure from CME and ICE, Hyperliquid chose to respond directly.
Jeff Yan, founder of Hyperliquid, revealed on May 15 that he and the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) met with policymakers in Washington. HPC, an independent research and advocacy organization established in February 2026, is led by Jake Chervinsky, former policy director of the Blockchain Association and former chief legal officer at Variant, with initial funding of 1 million HYPE tokens from the Hyper Foundation.
Yan stated on X that the meeting discussed "how on-chain transactions, as a financial innovation, meet clear global user demand," and "the regulatory pathway for bringing on-chain derivatives markets to the United States."
In response to Bloomberg’s report on CME and ICE lobbying, Hyperliquid stated that its market offers “greater benefits and lower risk than traditional centralized exchanges,” and expects the CFTC to establish a dedicated regulatory framework for on-chain derivatives platforms.
An interesting detail: CME and ICE are currently facing parallel investigations by the CFTC and the Department of Justice over precisely timed oil futures trades on their respective platforms prior to federal policy announcements.