NYSE parent ICE explores Hyperliquid deal after CEO cites 11-person team

Intercontinental Exchange is exploring a collaboration with Hyperliquid after CEO Jeff Sprecher said the decentralized exchange surpassed Nasdaq with just 11 employees.

"This Hyperliquid that we're talking about, if you haven't heard of it yet, it's bigger than Nasdaq, okay? Eleven people," Sprecher said at the Bernstein 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference on May 27. "We are actually engaging with these people."

Hyperliquid processes roughly $9.5 billion in open interest and generates an estimated $650 million in annualized protocol revenue, according to on-chain data. Its native token, HYPE, hit a record above $64 this week, pushing its market capitalization to about $12.7 billion — a roughly 150% gain year-to-date. The platform runs on its own custom Layer-1 blockchain with a fully on-chain central limit order book.

The overture from ICE signals that traditional finance is moving beyond curiosity about decentralized trading. With SpaceX derivatives already trading on Hyperliquid ahead of the rocket company's expected June 11 IPO, Sprecher said the on-chain venue could influence how the $1.75 trillion listing is priced.

The comments came 12 days after Bloomberg reported that ICE and CME Group executives had warned CFTC officials about Hyperliquid's potential risks, including market manipulation and sanctions evasion. Sprecher addressed the contradiction directly.

"An article made it seem like we were frightened. We are not frightened," he said. "They are learning about our world, and we are learning about theirs."

He added that ICE's lobbying was aimed at regulatory parity: "What we're saying to regulators is, why can't we do the same thing? Why are you banning us after it's already happened?"

HYPE ETFs and Index Inclusion

Two spot HYPE exchange-traded funds from 21Shares and Bitwise attracted more than $100 million in net inflows within their first 10 trading days, capturing about 1.04% of HYPE's total market cap. Bitwise's fund recorded a single-day net inflow of $19.05 million on May 27.

Hyperliquid Strategies (Nasdaq: PURR), the largest HYPE token treasury company, was selected for the Russell 3000 Index effective June 26. PURR holds about 20 million HYPE tokens valued at roughly $799 million and $103 million in cash with no debt.

Washington Response

Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan said he and the Hyperliquid Policy Center — led by former Blockchain Association policy director Jake Chervinsky — met with Washington policymakers on May 15 to discuss a regulatory framework for on-chain derivatives. The platform has faced scrutiny over centralization concerns given its 11-person team managing $9.5 billion in open interest.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.