HYPE Surges Over 20% as Trump Signals U.S. Path for Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token surged more than 20% over 24 hours Thursday and briefly reached over $74 after President Donald Trump said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is working on a legal route for Hyperliquid to operate in the United States. HYPE was trading around $71-$72 at publication, after coming within roughly 3% of its $76.87 all-time high.

Trump made the comment during a White House event with crypto executives and federal regulators on Wednesday. Referring to CFTC Chair Michael Selig, Trump said he understood Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid into the country in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.” The meeting also included SEC Chair Paul Atkins and executives from Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken and Intercontinental Exchange.

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— Hyperliquid Policy Center (@HyperliquidPC) August 19, 2026

The full 24-hour HYPE gain cannot be attributed solely to Trump’s comment. Crypto was already in the middle of a broad rally, with Bitcoin moving above $70,000 and crypto-linked U.S. equities extending their gains Thursday. Reuters put Bitcoin’s advance at 3.4% as the market continued reacting to falling long-term Treasury yields and renewed activity around U.S. crypto legislation.

HYPE nevertheless outpaced much of the market. CoinGecko recorded a 24-hour range of $58.64 to $74.32, a spread of almost 27%, while trading volume jumped above $1.7 billion.

A U.S. route is still undefined

Trump’s remarks provide political support for bringing Hyperliquid onshore, but they are not a regulatory approval and no structure for a U.S. launch has been announced.

The CFTC has already encountered HYPE through regulated derivatives markets. Its filings show Bitnomial self-certified a HYPE-linked futures contract in April, while Kalshi filed a cash-settled HYPE perpetual futures contract in June. Those products are separate from allowing Hyperliquid’s own onchain trading venue to serve U.S. users.

That distinction leaves major questions around registration, customer eligibility and how existing derivatives rules would apply to Hyperliquid’s non-custodial, fully onchain order book.

Selig is scheduled to chair the CFTC’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. The agenda covers crypto assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets, but the published notice does not identify a Hyperliquid-specific proposal.