U.S. President Donald Trump said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is helping perpetual futures trading platform Hyperliquid enter the U.S. market in a "fully compliant, legal" manner. The comments quickly pushed Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE higher, with the report saying the token gained more than 22% in a single day.
Trump links CFTC efforts to Hyperliquid’s U.S. entry
Trump made the remarks on Wednesday during a press conference with technology leaders and multiple federal agency heads. He said the CFTC is working to bring perpetual contract platforms into the U.S. market.
"As I understand it, Mike (Selig) is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant, legal way," Trump said.
Perpetual contracts and the regulatory path in the U.S.
Perpetuals, or perps, are futures contracts with no expiration date. They allow investors to bet on price moves without holding the underlying asset directly, and they have become a major tool in the crypto derivatives market in recent years.
The report said the CFTC had previously approved related product applications from KalshiEX and Coinbase, helping pave the way for bitcoin perpetual contracts to list in the United States.
Wall Street interest rises, but traditional exchanges remain cautious
JPMorgan analysts said traditional investors are increasingly looking for exposure to assets such as oil during after-hours trading through markets that operate 24 hours a day. That trend has helped lift the profile of on-chain perpetuals platforms such as Hyperliquid.
Not every major financial player is comfortable with that shift. According to Bloomberg, CME and Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, are concerned that such platforms could be used to manipulate markets or distort prices, and they have strongly urged that they be brought within the CFTC’s regulatory framework.
Selig had discussed the possibility earlier this year
In a June interview with Bankless, Michael Selig also spoke about the possibility of Hyperliquid expanding into the U.S. He said on-chain technologies such as Hyperliquid would "completely transform our markets" and added, "We hope to open a path to bring these on-chain markets into the United States while making sure they comply with a certain set of regulatory standards."
HYPE, ETFs and PURR all moved higher
Trump’s public backing ignited buying in related names. According to CoinGecko data cited in the report, HYPE rose 22.9% over the past 24 hours to $71.47.
During Wednesday’s trading session, 21Shares’ Hyperliquid ETF (THYP), Bitwise’s Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP), and Grayscale’s Hyperliquid Staking ETF (HYPG) each climbed nearly 20%.
Nasdaq-listed Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) posted an even larger one-day gain of 30.4%.
Trump also comments on a strategic bitcoin reserve and the CLARITY Act
At the same press conference, Trump was asked whether the U.S. government intended to keep advancing a strategic bitcoin reserve. He said the next step would be up to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
Trump said the issue had "of course always been discussed" and added that bitcoin had already "taken a lot of pressure off the dollar."
Trump also urged Congress on Wednesday to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or the CLARITY Act. The bill is designed to establish a full federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. If enacted, it would mark the first major U.S. federal legislation to comprehensively regulate the crypto industry.
He described it as "a very powerful, well-structured bill" that would help the United States stay ahead in the sector, "ahead of China, and ahead of every other country."
The report added that the CLARITY Act has previously run into repeated setbacks, and that time is tight if it is to clear Congress before the end of this year.