$HYPE is up over 17% over the past 24 hours, rising from around $58 to a high of $72. This comes immediately after President Trump stated that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is working to bring the decentralized exchange into the United States. Trump made the comment on Wednesday at a White House gathering of executives across crypto, tech and finance. “I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion,” he said, referring to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, and adding that Selig was working very hard on it.
JUST IN: hyperliquid:native has jumped over 17% to above $68 after President Trump said the CFTC is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.”
This matters because the CFTC has already cleared US venues like Coinbase… pic.twitter.com/vScnKxvvGd
— Cryptopolitan (@CPOfficialtx) August 20, 2026
As of this writing, $HYPE is trading above $70 and less than 10% from its all time highs of $76.95 set on June 16. It’s worth noting that nothing has been approved thus far and no comment has been made on what an onshore Hyperliquid would actually be, which registrations it would need, or how long that would take.
The Room Included Some of the Platform’s Loudest Critics
CME Group and ICE have in the past pressed regulators to scrutinize Hyperliquid over supposed price manipulation and sanctions exposure. Executives from that side of the market were present at the gathering on Wednesday. Trump’s backing of the platform happened in the presence of some of the strongest critics who were looking to bring tighter rules for months.
US Access is the Whole Point
The deepest and largest derivatives market in the world is in the United States, but hyperliquid, despite Hyperliquid controlling perp volume in the space, is still locked out of it. Access here opens the platform to a customer base and a whole new pool of capital the platform has not seen. The access is also bound to test the platform’s capabilities as well. A venue built entirely outside US rules would have to show it can operate inside them, which means answering for exchange registration, customer identification, market surveillance and sanctions screening.
The CFTC has already opened a path this year for regulated platforms such as Coinbase Derivatives and Kalshi to perp-style contracts. This has effectively reduced the distance between offshore perp markets and federally supervised ones. Selig has also already stated that regulators should expand existing rules to accommodate onchain platforms rather than have them operate offshore.
Oil Traders Found Hyperliquid Before Washington Did
Hyperliquid’s expansion has stopped being a crypto-only story. JPMorgan analysts have pointed to non-crypto traders using onchain perps for exposure to commodities such as oil at hours when traditional exchanges are shut. A geopolitical headline at 2 a.m. has somewhere to trade now. That behavior is the convergence case in practice, and it is also why exchange operators with fixed session hours are paying attention.
Selig Gets a Public Stage Hours After Trump’s Remark
The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural meeting today from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET, streamed on CFTC.gov. The agenda covers crypto assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets, along with recent commission activity in those areas. The committee was set up in January 2026 to replace the Technology Advisory Committee, and its membership pulls from Coinbase, Ripple and Gemini among others.
Hyperliquid does not appear on the published agenda. Written comments stay open through August 27.
Traders will be watching whether Selig puts anything on the record that resembles what Trump described. A vague nod keeps the rally speculative. Anything specific on registration or a compliance framework changes what $HYPE is pricing.
