US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology sector leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). [AP]
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology sector leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). [AP]

The United States is moving in earnest to bring the market for crypto perpetual futures — known as "perps" — under its domestic regulatory framework, after years of the instruments flourishing offshore. The push gained fresh momentum after President Donald Trump personally mentioned efforts to bring leading perp platform Hyperliquid into the US market, sending its native token HYPE sharply higher.

HYPE was trading at $69.46 as of 1:04 p.m. Thursday, up 18.99 percent over the previous 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The token ranked ninth among all virtual assets by market capitalization.

Trump, speaking at a White House event Wednesday (local time), referenced Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig and said he understood that "Mike is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a legal way," Bloomberg reported.

Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange where users can trade perps — leveraged positions on virtual assets with no expiration date. The platform has recently expanded beyond virtual assets to offer contracts linked to real-world assets such as stocks and raw materials.

Hyperliquid does not currently offer services to US investors on an official basis, but if a US entry materializes, American investors would gain a legal path to use its services — including perpetual futures — under regulatory oversight.

Assets linked to Hyperliquid rallied across the board following Trump's remarks. Shares of Hyperliquid Strategies, a US-listed company that holds HYPE as a primary asset, closed up 30.42 percent on Thursday.

Markets are reading the comments as part of a broader effort by the US government to bring crypto derivatives trading — which has grown largely offshore — under domestic regulation. The CFTC has also been working to update the relevant regulatory regime, recently laying out conditions under which US platforms could offer perpetual futures. In May, the commission approved prediction market platform Kalshi's listing of bitcoin perpetual futures and opened a path for US investors to access some overseas crypto perpetual futures through Coinbase.

Aisha Kiani, chief operating officer of Monarch Asset Management, said Trump's comments about Hyperliquid and HYPE's immediate reaction show "how quickly the regulatory and political environment around digital assets is changing," adding that "beyond the simple price movement, what stands out is that decentralized market infrastructure is gradually entering mainstream policy discussions."

Meanwhile, the need for similar discussions has also been raised in South Korea. At a judicial training program held at the Seoul Southern District Court in June, Shim Won-tae, an official at the Financial Services Commission's virtual assets division, said "there needs to be a discussion on whether to treat perpetual futures as traditional derivatives and regulate them accordingly."


kyoung@heraldcorp.com