President Donald Trump says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is working on a regulatory pathway that could allow Hyperliquid to operate legally in the United States, providing one of the clearest signals yet that Washington wants to bring decentralized perpetual-futures trading onshore.
Speaking at a White House gathering of cryptocurrency and financial-industry executives on August 19, Trump specifically identified Hyperliquid while discussing efforts to expand regulated derivatives markets.
“I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion,” Trump said, referring to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig.
The statement does not mean Hyperliquid has received approval to serve American customers. Neither the CFTC nor Hyperliquid has announced a formal application, registration structure or timetable for U.S. access. Hyperliquid’s primary interface currently restricts U.S. users, leaving the potential regulatory pathway under development rather than operational.
CFTC Looks to Bring Perpetual Futures Onshore
Trump’s remarks fit into a broader CFTC effort to establish regulated U.S. markets for cryptocurrency products that historically developed offshore. Perpetual futures are derivatives without traditional expiration dates. They have become one of crypto’s dominant trading products, allowing investors to take leveraged long or short positions while funding payments help keep contract prices aligned with underlying spot markets.
Hyperliquid has become one of the largest decentralized venues for those products, combining an on-chain order book with its own Layer 1 blockchain.
Its expansion has increasingly brought it into competition with established derivatives exchanges. Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework allows outside developers to deploy perpetual markets, including contracts providing exposure to equities and traditional financial benchmarks. Current offerings have included markets linked to Nvidia, gold, crude oil, the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500.
Bringing that model into the U.S. presents significant regulatory questions.
The CFTC would need to determine how requirements traditionally applied to derivatives exchanges, intermediaries, clearing, customer protection and market surveillance translate to an on-chain venue whose infrastructure differs substantially from centralized exchanges.
Trump’s comments suggest Selig’s agency is attempting to resolve those issues rather than simply keeping platforms such as Hyperliquid outside the U.S.
HYPE Surges as Markets Price in U.S. Access
Investors reacted immediately to the possibility of American expansion. HYPE initially jumped approximately 11% following Trump’s remarks, according to CoinDesk. The rally subsequently accelerated, with the token rising more than 20% and trading above $72 as investors reassessed the potential size of Hyperliquid’s addressable market.
HYPE later reached a record approximately $82.43 on August 22, according to subsequent market reporting, extending its gains after the White House comments.
The reaction reflects the importance of U.S. access to Hyperliquid’s growth prospects. American traders represent a large derivatives market, but regulatory restrictions have prevented them from directly accessing many of the perpetual products that dominate offshore crypto trading.
A compliant pathway could therefore bring substantial additional volume onto Hyperliquid while simultaneously advancing the administration’s objective of moving crypto activity into the U.S. regulatory perimeter.
The initiative could also increase competitive pressure on established derivatives operators such as CME Group and Cboe if on-chain venues eventually receive permission to offer comparable products domestically.
The regulatory details remain unresolved. Trump did not identify which CFTC registration category Hyperliquid could use, whether the platform itself would require restructuring, or what restrictions might apply to leverage and retail participation.
Congress is simultaneously considering the CLARITY Act, which would establish a broader statutory framework for digital-asset markets. Trump urged lawmakers to advance that legislation during the same August 19 White House meeting.
For Hyperliquid, however, the significance of Trump’s statement is that U.S. access may not depend entirely on Congress.
If the CFTC can construct a compliant framework using existing authority, one of crypto’s largest decentralized derivatives platforms could gain a legal route into the world’s biggest financial market — turning Hyperliquid from an example of activity pushed offshore by U.S. rules into a test case for bringing that activity back onshore.
