Author: Claude, TechFlow News
TechFlow Insights: ICE (parent company of NYSE) founder and CEO Jeff Sprecher publicly praised Hyperliquid at the Bernstein Investor Conference on May 27, saying it is "bigger than Nasdaq" and "I wish I was younger to get involved personally." This statement came just 12 days after ICE and CME jointly lobbied the CFTC to "crack down" on Hyperliquid. Sprecher also revealed that the NYSE has secretly integrated a blockchain settlement system. HYPE token hit a new all-time high of $64 this week, with two spot ETFs raising over $100 million in 10 days after launch, and its DAT company PURR was included in the Russell 3000 index.
On May 27, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) founder and CEO Jeff Sprecher gave a rare and explicitly personal appraisal of Hyperliquid during an interview at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference.
"This thing we're talking about, Hyperliquid, if you haven't heard about it, it's bigger than Nasdaq, OK? Eleven people. You look at this, you say, wow, that's amazing," Sprecher said. He added immediately: "I love this. I wish I was younger so I could go do this personally. By the way, the people doing this are becoming billionaires in droves."
ICE is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and also operates one of the world's largest energy futures markets. Sprecher's comments represent the most direct public endorsement of Hyperliquid by the highest levels of traditional finance to date.
From Joint Lobbying for a "Crackdown" 12 Days Ago to CEO's Change of Tone
The reason Sprecher's praise caused a stir is the timeline.
On May 15, Bloomberg reported that CME and ICE executives had warned CFTC and Capitol Hill officials, arguing that Hyperliquid's decentralized perpetual contract trading could pose risks of market manipulation and sanctions evasion, and demanding it be brought under traditional financial regulation. After the news broke, HYPE fell nearly 9%.
Just 12 days later, the head of ICE expressed admiration publicly at one of Wall Street's most important investor conferences.
At the Bernstein conference, Sprecher directly addressed this contradiction: "There was a headline of a story that made it sound like we were freaked out. We're not freaked out. We're actually in dialogue with these people, learning what they're doing. They're learning our world, we're learning their world. In that sense, it's a mutual admiration society."
But he quickly turned to the core regulatory demand: "What we said to regulators is, can we do that, too? Why are you telling us we can't do it when this is happening? Can we have a level playing field? This administration is very pro-digital. If you think it's legal, let us do it; if you think it's illegal, why aren't they getting the nasty letters you're sending us?"
This statement reveals the real logic behind ICE's lobbying of the CFTC: not to shut down Hyperliquid, but to ask regulators to loosen restrictions on themselves, allowing traditional exchanges to participate in the on-chain derivatives market as well.
On the Eve of SpaceX's IPO: Hyperliquid Becomes a "Shadow Pricing Market"
Sprecher's interest in Hyperliquid isn't casual; he has a very specific observation window: SpaceX is set to list on Nasdaq on June 12 with a valuation of about $1.75 trillion, and Hyperliquid is already trading SpaceX derivatives contracts.
"I think what really puts it on the map is SpaceX. They've already listed SpaceX derivatives for trading. It's going to be very interesting on June 11th when SpaceX is officially priced, to see what price this private market discovers, and whether that price will influence the IPO itself," Sprecher said. "Regulators and market participants will say, this is either completely irrelevant or highly relevant."
He then calculated an extreme scenario: Considering Hyperliquid allows up to 100:1 leverage, if retail investors flood into SpaceX derivatives, the notional exposure size on-chain "could be larger than the IPO itself."
"So I say you can't ignore it. I don't know yet whether we should embrace it or hate it, but I think by June we'll all have the answer."
HYPE ETFs Raise $100 Million in 10 Days, PURR Included in Russell 3000
Sprecher's comments came as Hyperliquid experienced a wave of intensive mainstreaming catalysts.
On May 12 and 15, 21Shares and Bitwise launched the first US spot HYPE ETFs (tickers THYP and BHYP) on Nasdaq and NYSE, respectively. According to bitcoin.com, the two funds saw cumulative net inflows exceeding $100 million in the first 10 trading days, absorbing 1.04% of HYPE's total market cap. On a market cap proportion basis, this outperformed the initial launch performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs over the same period. Bitwise recorded a single-day net inflow of $19.05 million on May 27, becoming the world's largest HYPE ETF.
On May 22, FTSE Russell announced the preliminary list for the 2026 Russell US Indexes reconstitution. Hyperliquid Strategies (Nasdaq ticker PURR) appeared on the addition list for the Russell 3000 Index, expected to take effect on June 26.
PURR is currently the largest HYPE token treasury company, holding approximately 20 million HYPE (valued at about $799 million as of April 29) and an additional $103 million in cash, with no debt. Inclusion in the Russell 3000 means passive funds tracking the index will be forced to buy PURR, further opening a transmission channel for HYPE into traditional capital markets.
The HYPE token briefly surpassed $64 this week to reach a new all-time high, with a year-to-date gain of about 150%, far outpacing Bitcoin's performance over the same period. According to CoinGecko data, HYPE's current market cap is approximately $12.7 billion, ranking 10th among crypto assets.
Jeff Yan Goes to Washington, Hyperliquid Policy Center Meets the Challenge Head-On
Faced with lobbying pressure from CME and ICE, Hyperliquid chose to respond directly.
Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan revealed on May 15 that he and the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) had met with policymakers in Washington. HPC is an independent research and advocacy institute established in February 2026, led by Jake Chervinsky, former Head of Policy at the Blockchain Association and former Chief Legal Officer at Variant. It was launched with funding of 1 million HYPE allocated by the Hyper Foundation.
On platform X, Yan stated that the meetings discussed "how on-chain trading, as a financial innovation, has a clear global user demand" and "regulatory pathways for bringing on-chain derivatives markets to the US."
Responding to Bloomberg's report on CME and ICE lobbying, HPC stated that the market provided by Hyperliquid is "more beneficial and less risky than traditional centralized exchanges" and expects the CFTC to establish a specialized regulatory framework for on-chain derivatives platforms.
An interesting detail: CME and ICE themselves are currently facing parallel investigations by the CFTC and the Justice Department due to "perfectly timed" oil futures trades on their respective platforms ahead of federal policy announcements.
