ICE studies Hyperliquid model as crypto perps move onshore

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, is studying Hyperliquid’s around-the-clock perpetual futures model and has asked U.S. regulators whether traditional exchanges can offer comparable contracts after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Bitcoin perpetual futures for Kalshi.

Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE’s founder and CEO, said the company and Hyperliquid are in active talks to swap operational and market-design ideas. At Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference, he said, “We’re not freaked out about it. We’re actually talking to these people and learning about it. They’re learning what we’re doing. We’re helping them understand our world. They’re helping us understand their world.” He later asked regulators why regulated venues are restricted from offering perpetual futures when similar contracts already trade on crypto platforms: “Can we do that? Like, why are you prohibiting us from doing this when it’s already happening? And can’t we have a level playing field?”

Perpetual futures, often called perps, are derivative contracts that let traders take positions on future prices without an expiry date. Crypto trading platforms have offered perps around the clock for years, both on centralized exchanges and on-chain venues.

The CFTC issued an order allowing Kalshi to offer Bitcoin perpetual futures in the U.S., expanding the presence of onshore crypto derivatives. A prior CFTC approval in December allowed another platform to offer similar products. Coinbase also said its CFTC-regulated futures business can connect U.S. institutional clients to global crypto options and perpetual futures liquidity.

Sprecher pointed to trading in SpaceX-related perpetuals as an example of how prices formed on crypto venues might interact with traditional markets. Traders have used perps to speculate on SpaceX’s potential IPO price months before any public filing, with those contracts averaging nearly $18 million in daily volume over a recent two-week period. Sprecher said market participants and regulators will watch whether a derivative price formed on crypto venues becomes relevant once a company lists publicly.

Market participants describe a shift of early price signals onto crypto rails. Ultan Miller, CEO of private markets infrastructure firm Hecto Finance, said perpetuals reflect where marginal views on value are expressed and hedged in real time and called for a technology-neutral onshore framework so those markets can contribute to transparency in private markets. Fernando Lillo, marketing director at crypto trading platform Zoomex, called Hyperliquid a wake-up call that has prompted conversations between crypto venues and traditional firms about hosting 24/7 on-chain derivatives in regulated settings.

ICE executives framed their outreach to Hyperliquid and to regulators as pragmatic: if demand exists and the technology functions, regulated exchanges want to offer similar products rather than cede the business to offshore platforms.

The CFTC has said it will continue to review perpetual futures and related products on a case-by-case basis. Recent approvals and industry discussions are expanding the overlap between on-chain derivatives and regulated U.S. markets and increasing public debate about market structure, oversight and pre-IPO price signals.