Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has held multiple meetings with blockchain trading platform Hyperliquid as it explores the launch of onchain perpetual futures tied to commodities such as oil.
Chair and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher said ICE is pushing for a regulatory framework that would place traditional and blockchain-based derivatives on equal footing, rather than treating onchain products as a separate category.
ICE holds talks on blockchain derivatives
Sprecher confirmed that ICE and CME Group have jointly discussed Hyperliquid’s operating model with U.S. regulators, including how blockchain-based settlement could fit under existing commodities and swaps law.
The main question, he said, is whether perpetual futures traded onchain should be classified as a new product type or brought under established rules such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and EMIR in the European Union. He added that similar questions are emerging under Japan’s financial regulations.
The talks, he said, are aimed at understanding whether 24/7 blockchain markets can be supervised within current regimes and how traditional exchanges could participate without breaching existing restrictions.
Regulators pressed on treatment of onchain contracts
Hyperliquid’s rise has sharpened regulatory focus. The platform has become a key venue for continuous exposure to energy markets, particularly crude oil, outside traditional operating hours.
Bloomberg previously reported that ICE and CME raised concerns with officials about Hyperliquid’s growing role in global oil price exposure, especially as its trading expanded into weekends.
JPMorgan analysts have noted that weekend geopolitical and macro events are increasingly driving flows into Hyperliquid’s oil-linked perpetual contracts. A March 2026 report highlighted that during a weekend escalation of Middle East tensions, trading in Hyperliquid’s WTI crude oil perpetual contract surged to a peak of around $1.7 billion while regulated exchanges remained closed.
Growth of 24/7 oil trading drives urgency
Legacy exchanges are starting to adapt to this always-on environment.
ICE last week outlined plans to work with OKX to list oil perpetual contracts tied to Brent crude and WTI benchmarks. The arrangement aims to link ICE’s established pricing standards with a digital asset venue that has a reported retail user base exceeding 120 million.
The new products are designed to compete directly with Hyperliquid’s 24/7 oil markets, offering traders a regulated alternative for continuous energy exposure.
Separately, CME Group has announced that from May 29, 2026, its cryptocurrency futures and options will move to a 24/7 trading schedule. The shift is intended to close weekend gaps in pricing that decentralized platforms have been exploiting, and is expected to narrow arbitrage spreads between regulated and onchain venues.
ICE and CME shift toward continuous trading
Sprecher’s remarks at the Bernstein 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference underscored how far the onchain model has advanced. He said Hyperliquid is already “bigger than Nasdaq” in some respects, highlighting that it runs with a team of just 11 people.
The decentralized venue has recorded roughly $172.63 billion in 30-day trading volume, capturing a substantial share of the onchain perpetuals market and signaling a structural shift in how derivatives can be traded and settled.
The Hyperliquid Policy Center argues that such continuous, blockchain-based trading improves transparency and reduces data blind spots when traditional exchanges are shut. According to the group, constant activity sharpens price discovery across instruments.
Hyperliquid’s scale draws attention
Regulatory agencies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, face pressure to clarify how onchain derivatives should be supervised.
Sprecher said the discussions initiated by ICE and CME are not an attempt to curb innovation but to secure “equal conditions” for firms operating under existing derivatives rules and those running blockchain-native platforms.
If onchain perpetuals are pulled into the existing swaps framework, platform operators and users would likely face new compliance, reporting, and margin requirements, aligning these markets more closely with traditional derivatives.
Regulators weigh fair competition and compliance
ICE is also tracking how onchain pricing feeds into traditional equity markets through the upcoming initial public offering of SpaceX, expected to price around June 11 at a valuation of up to $1.75 trillion.
TradeXYZ, operating on Hyperliquid, has launched a perpetual contract tied to pre-IPO SpaceX shares. After launch, the implied valuation climbed from a reference price of $150 per share to more than $216, with open interest rising from about $22 million to $73 million in the early phase of trading.
Sprecher said ICE will monitor whether the prices discovered in this onchain, pre-IPO market have any measurable influence on the eventual IPO pricing and subsequent trading once SpaceX lists publicly. The outcome is expected to serve as an early test of the predictive power and signaling effect of blockchain-based pre-market activity for future listings.
SpaceX IPO seen as real-world test for onchain pricing
ICE has been building out its digital asset footprint through targeted investments and partnerships.
The exchange operator previously acquired a stake in OKX at a $25 billion valuation and earlier this year committed $600 million to prediction market platform Polymarket. These moves extend ICE’s reach into both trading and event-driven markets tied to blockchain infrastructure.
ICE deepens digital asset push through deals
The intensifying engagement between long-established exchanges and blockchain-native venues reflects a broader recognition that trading is shifting toward continuous, globally accessible markets.
With Hyperliquid and similar platforms demonstrating substantial scale and demand for 24/7 derivatives, traditional operators such as ICE and CME are seeking ways to participate under a regulated framework rather than cede this territory outright.
How regulators resolve the status of onchain perpetuals in the coming months will shape competition, product design, and the balance between centralized and decentralized market structures in the next phase of global derivatives trading.
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