ICE Founder Says Hyperliquid Surpasses Nasdaq by Volume

Jeff Sprecher, founder of Intercontinental Exchange and an architect of the modern NYSE, told Bernstein’s 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference this week that Hyperliquid trades more volume than Nasdaq and is drawing interest from institutional clients monitoring its price discovery.

Sprecher said the platform was built by 11 people and praised the team’s work, calling the platform “pretty something.” He noted the venue has pulled early adopters and traders who would normally transact on ICE and Nasdaq into a blockchain-based market.

He highlighted that Hyperliquid has been trading crude oil perpetual contracts on weekends when ICE’s markets are closed. Sprecher pointed out that several significant price-moving events tied to the Iran conflict occurred on weekends, and those moves registered on Hyperliquid while traditional venues were dark.

Sprecher acknowledged that most institutional clients are not yet executing trades directly on blockchain exchanges, but he said they are watching the platform’s price action and using it as a source of information about market formation.

Markets reacted to his remarks. The HYPE token tied to Hyperliquid rose roughly 10% overnight to about $62.50 following the comments. The platform has also shown episodes of extreme volatility: a SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual contract on Hyperliquid dropped about 45% in 30 minutes last Thursday, falling from $2,277 to $1,254 before a partial recovery. Trading records show the move erased roughly $1.51 million and triggered liquidations of hundreds of retail traders.

On market structure and behavior, Sprecher said participants will need to adjust to continuous trading and the interaction between retail and professional traders. He added that market participants and regulators will determine whether high-profile events, such as a SpaceX listing, are irrelevant or highly relevant to broader market structure.

His remarks were delivered amid ongoing regulatory review of crypto trading venues and wider discussion about how traditional and blockchain-native markets coexist. Hyperliquid’s weekend trading and the price moves recorded there have attracted attention from traders seeking round-the-clock markets and from institutional desks tracking alternative sources of price discovery.