Hyperliquid's HYPE token jumped after President Trump said the CFTC is working on a compliant path to bring the platform to the United States. The comments stop short of approval, but they came alongside a Coinbase expansion of Hyperliquid-powered trading and a jump in leveraged positioning. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said the policy shift would benefit the broader crypto industry, not Hyperliquid alone.
HYPE, the token of the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, rose more than 23% in 24 hours to $71.9 after President Donald Trump said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is working to bring the platform to the US in a fully compliant and legal manner. The remarks came during a White House crypto meeting on August 19.
Trump's comments fuel a broad market rally
The move coincided with a wider rally: the total crypto market cap surged 7.5% to $2.45 trillion overnight, with Ethereum up 18.5% on the day. Trump's comments do not amount to regulatory approval, registration, or authorization for a US launch, but they strengthened expectations that on-chain perpetual futures markets could eventually get a formal US compliance pathway.
Separately, the CFTC's inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting was scheduled for August 20 in Washington to examine how financial regulation should respond to digital-asset markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has previously said the agency wants to establish a compliant path for on-chain markets to operate in the US, though no confirmed authorization or launch timetable has been announced.
Coinbase widens access to Hyperliquid markets
Coinbase said on August 19 that eligible Base App users would gain access to more than 290 perpetual-futures markets through Hyperliquid, with leverage up to 50x depending on the asset. The service remains unavailable in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, underscoring the gap between Hyperliquid's current offshore model and any future compliant US pathway.
Leveraged positioning climbs alongside the rally
Aggregated futures open interest reached about $3.01 billion on August 20, up 16.43% over 30 days. Twenty-four-hour liquidations totaled about $43.21 million, with short liquidations making up 87.6% of that total. Funding stayed positive in 152 of the previous 180 four-hour periods, and the Binance long-to-short ratio stood at roughly 1.8 — a long-biased setup that can support momentum but also raises the risk of volatility if the market reverses.
CZ says the policy benefits the whole industry
Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said many observers were missing the bigger picture of the CFTC move, arguing the policy shift would help the entire crypto industry rather than one project. According to CoinGape: "what's good for one is good for the rest of the industry". The CFTC has already approved certain perpetual-style contracts on registered exchanges, and prediction market Kalshi has launched Hyperliquid perpetuals trading.
Sources: Altcoin News – Coinspeaker, CoinGape
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