Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has agreed to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the United States, a move that could push one of crypto’s most popular derivatives products into the regulated mainstream.
ICE announced on Thursday that it signed a definitive agreement with trade[XYZ], the largest builder of markets on the Hyperliquid decentralised exchange. Under the deal, ICE will exclusively run trade[XYZ]’s regulated markets and take a strategic stake in the company, the size of which was not disclosed.
The planned venue would offer round-the-clock contracts tied to equities, stock indices, commodities, foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies. Everything hinges on approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and no launch date has been given.
Perpetual futures differ from traditional contracts in that they carry no expiry date, letting traders hold a position indefinitely. They have been hugely popular offshore, and US retail access has been limited by regulation.
trade[XYZ] said its markets on Hyperliquid have handled more than $650 billion in cumulative volume since launching a little over a year ago. It operates under Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, which lets outside teams list their own perpetual markets while Hyperliquid handles order books and margining. Those contracts have given traders continuous price exposure to assets even when conventional exchanges are shut.
ICE management stressed that it sees the products as complementary, describing the perpetual markets as additive to its existing futures business rather than a replacement for them. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller is also joining as an investor in trade[XYZ].
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token jumped sharply on the news, with moves of between roughly 9% and 17% reported through the day.
The tie-up lands in an increasingly crowded race. Robinhood and Coinbase have already pushed perpetual futures to US customers, while Bitnomial plans its own offering using Hyperliquid’s infrastructure and Kraken’s parent Payward has said it will use HIP-3 for US clients, also pending approval. In August, trade[XYZ] and the Hyperliquid Policy Center asked the CFTC for permission to list perpetual contracts tied to energy commodities such as WTI crude, Brent and Henry Hub natural gas.
Analysts say the announcement is an intent rather than an approved product. ICE has not disclosed a CFTC filing or timeline, and trade[XYZ] says details on products, eligibility and timing will follow as approvals progress. The first concrete signals to watch will be a formal CFTC registration or product application, and which futures commission merchants sign up to give retail customers access.
