Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) CEO Jeffrey Sprecher called Hyperliquid “bigger than Nasdaq” at a Bernstein conference this week, sending HYPE (CRYPTO: HYPE) climbing nearly 10% on Friday.

ICE Has Already Met Hyperliquid Founders Multiple Times

Sprecher made the comparison on volume, not market cap. Hyperliquid holds over 70% of the decentralized perpetual futures market and clears billions in daily notional turnover, while Nasdaq Inc. carries a $50 billion market cap against HYPE’s $15.1 billion. 

The “11 people” refers to Hyperliquid Labs, the core development team, with open-source contributors and validators running the underlying blockchain.

“This Hyperliquid that we’re talking, if you haven’t heard about it, it’s bigger than Nasdaq, okay? It’s 11 people. You look at it, you’re like, wow, that’s pretty something,” Sprecher said, calling the founders “very, very smart people.”

Sprecher noted ICE took notice partly because Hyperliquid has been trading oil derivatives on weekends when ICE’s traditional energy markets are closed, activity that surged during recent Middle East tensions. 

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) analysts flagged the same pattern, pointing to non-crypto traders using Hyperliquid’s 24/7 markets for off-hours oil exposure.

Regulatory Gap Now In Focus As Dodd-Frank Question Looms

Hyperliquid operates as an unregulated foreign-incorporated venue while ICE operates under US Dodd-Frank and EU EMIR rules. 

Sprecher argued this creates an uneven playing field and expects regulators to either create a new category for perpetual futures or bring offshore venues under existing derivatives law within months.

“Why are you prohibiting us from doing this when it’s already happening? And can’t we have a level playing field?” Sprecher said.

Wall Street Already Building Exposure Through ETFs And PURR

Beyond Sprecher’s comments, institutional infrastructure around Hyperliquid is building fast.

Two US-listed spot HYPE ETFs, the 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (NASDAQ:THYP) and the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (NYSE:BHYP), launched in May and absorbed over $100 million in combined inflows within 10 trading sessions.

That early demand outpaced the launch-stage inflow pace of spot Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) ETFs at comparable early stages.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid Strategies (NASDAQ:PURR), a publicly traded HYPE treasury company modeled on Strategy’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Bitcoin approach, will be added to the Russell 3000 Index on June 26.

The inclusion means passive index funds will automatically purchase PURR shares, creating a structural demand channel from traditional capital markets into the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

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