Traditional Exchanges Declare All-Out War on Hyperliquid Commodity Derivatives

▲ Hyperliquid (HYPE)/AI generated image

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have directly challenged Hyperliquid's expansion of commodity-linked on-chain derivatives, demanding that U.S. regulators put a stop to it.

According to Cointelegraph on May 15 (local time), ICE and CME, the two largest exchanges in the energy-linked commodity market, are pushing for stronger regulation as the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange expands into key energy markets such as crude oil and natural gas. Executives from both companies reportedly argued that Hyperliquid's energy-linked on-chain derivatives could increase the risk of insider trading and price manipulation.

ICE and CME identified Hyperliquid's anonymity and unregulated nature as key risk factors. They also raised concerns that if such a structure were exploited in critical energy markets like crude oil and natural gas, it could be used by actors from sanctioned countries to circumvent sanctions.

At the center of the controversy is HIP-3, introduced by Hyperliquid in January 2025. Known as 'Builder-Deployed Perpetuals,' HIP-3 is designed to allow anyone to create a perpetual futures market for electronically traded asset classes by staking 500,000 HYPE, the platform's native cryptocurrency. The value of this quantity was stated to be approximately $22.2 million.

Following the introduction of HIP-3, the price of HYPE surged by over 58% in just three days. The token price rose from a low of approximately $20 to over $38. Cointelegraph described the introduction of HIP-3 as an example of traditional financial markets moving on-chain, noting that the boundary between blockchain-based infrastructure and existing market structures is blurring.

The open interest in Hyperliquid's HIP-3 market has also continued to increase since its launch, surpassing $2.5 billion as of May. The direct expression of concerns by traditional commodity exchanges to regulators indicates that the conflict between existing financial markets and regulatory frameworks is intensifying as the decentralized derivatives market expands into the energy commodity trading sector.

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