Hyperliquid Launches 24-Hour Derivatives...Why Are Wall Street Gatekeepers Scared?

▲ CME, Hyperliquid (HYPE)/AI Generated Image

Hyperliquid (HYPE) has rapidly dominated the 24-hour on-chain derivatives market. In response, CME and ICE are mobilizing Washington, signaling a full-blown collision between traditional finance and DeFi (Decentralized Finance).

Louis Raskin, host of the cryptocurrency YouTube channel Coin Bureau, claimed in a video uploaded on May 28 (local time) that Hyperliquid is facing regulatory pressure from traditional finance, not from hacking or competing blockchains. Raskin explained that CME and ICE are raising issues about Hyperliquid with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Congress, stating that the growth of the 24-hour, high-speed DeFi derivatives platform is making existing derivatives exchanges nervous.

According to Raskin, Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange that provides execution speeds comparable to centralized exchanges on its own Layer 1 blockchain. Its core product is perpetual futures, which have no expiration and offer high leverage and liquidity, providing synthetic exposure not only to cryptocurrencies but also to stocks, commodities, and precious metals. CME and ICE argue that Hyperliquid's anonymous order book and permissionless structure could lead to market manipulation, sanctions evasion, and benchmark distortion. They particularly express concern that Hyperliquid's crude oil perpetual futures could affect the actual crude oil price system, given that ICE's Brent crude and CME's WTI are used as global energy price benchmarks.

Raskin views the actual background as closer to competitive threat than CME and ICE's official pretexts. Hyperliquid's crude oil-linked perpetual futures trading volume, which was in the millions of dollars per day before the outbreak of the Iran war, surged to over $700 million per day immediately after the war. In August of last year, it recorded $106 million in protocol revenue for the month, with annualized revenue exceeding $1.25 billion. During the same period, monthly trading volume was approximately $383 billion, accounting for about 70% of the DeFi perpetual futures DEX market. By early 2026, its global perpetual futures trading volume share had increased to 6%, nearly doubling from approximately 3.5% the previous year.

In October 2025, Hyperliquid introduced the HIP3 framework, enabling the listing of synthetic stock and commodity perpetual futures such as U.S. stocks, stock indices, metals, and crude oil. Subsequently, its share of the DeFi perpetual futures market rose from 18% to approximately 33%, and as of April, the open interest in the HIP3 market exceeded $2 billion. Seven of the top 10 markets by trading volume were tokenized futures rather than general cryptocurrency derivatives, and 23 of the top 30 markets were related to tokenized stocks and commodities. Raskin pointed out the double standard, noting that while CME and ICE criticize Hyperliquid's 24-hour on-chain derivatives as risky, CME itself announced plans for 24-hour trading of its own regulated cryptocurrency futures and options in February 2026.

ICE's investment in Polymarket was also cited as a contradictory case. According to the video, ICE invested up to $2 billion in Polymarket last October, at which point Polymarket's valuation was approximately $8 billion. Raskin criticized that while prediction markets, which allow betting on real-world events like politics, geopolitics, economic indicators, and military operations, inherently carry risks of information asymmetry and insider trading, ICE invested in such a platform. Meanwhile, they are raising concerns about Hyperliquid with regulators, citing market manipulation risks. In February 2026, Hyperliquid launched the Hyperliquid Policy Center, a policy and advocacy organization, with HYPE tokens worth approximately $29 million. Led by cryptocurrency policy lawyer Jake Chervinsky and co-founder Jeff Yan, the center is explaining a regulatory framework suitable for on-chain perpetual futures to Congress.

Raskin assessed that Hyperliquid is not trying to evade regulation but rather to first establish institutional language appropriate for on-chain derivatives. The core defense argument is that on public blockchains, transactions and positions can be verified by anyone, and risk management operates via code rather than a clearinghouse. However, the decades-long network of regulatory bodies and Congress, compliance organizations, and institutional trust built by CME and ICE remain a burden for Hyperliquid. Raskin believes that the final outcome is more likely to be a compromise model that incorporates some regulatory compliance requirements while maintaining on-chain settlement and transparent order books, rather than a complete victory for either side. If Hyperliquid succeeds in entering the institutional realm in Washington, it could absorb a portion of the global derivatives market, but if it is blocked by regulatory barriers, institutional adoption and growth limitations will become evident.

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