ICE Founder: Hyperliquid Trading Volume Has Overtaken Nasdaq

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) founder Jeff Sprecher said the onchain trading venue Hyperliquid is now posting more trading volume than Nasdaq, according to CoinDesk. The comments mark one of the clearest endorsements yet from a senior traditional-market figure and renew attention on how onchain perpetuals are pressuring incumbent exchanges. Speaking at a public event, Sprecher said Hyperliquid—built by a team of 11—has reached a scale traditional financial institutions can no longer dismiss. While most institutional clients are not yet executing directly onchain, he said they are watching the platform closely for its role in price discovery. Sprecher pointed to Hyperliquid's ability to trade crude oil perpetual contracts over the weekend, when ICE's traditional markets are closed. With some Iran-related geopolitical developments moving prices on weekends, he said the value of a 24/7 onchain market becomes more pronounced. Following the remarks, Hyperliquid's HYPE token briefly rebounded about 10% to around $62.50. The report also highlighted a sharp move in Hyperliquid's pre-IPO perpetual contract tied to SpaceX: it briefly fell 45% on Thursday, sliding from $2,277 to roughly $1,254 before partially recovering. The swing produced about $1.51 million in losses and triggered liquidations across many retail positions. Macro views from major banks diverged. JPMorgan said the "currency depreciation trade"—fueled by inflation, geopolitical risk and weaker currencies—appears to be fading. Over the past two weeks, both Bitcoin ETFs and gold ETFs have seen outflows, and related futures positioning at CME has also declined. The bank linked the shift partly to expectations of easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Standard Chartered stayed constructive on Ethereum, arguing ETH prices still fail to reflect improving network fundamentals. The bank reiterated a year-end target of $4,000 and a decade-end target of $40,000, citing Ethereum's ongoing leadership in stablecoins and DeFi. Elsewhere, AI firm Anthropic announced it completed a $65 billion Series H funding round, valuing the company at $965 billion post-money, alongside the release of Claude Opus 4.8. Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital were among the investors, reports said. In market trading, Bitcoin was around $73,300 and Ethereum near $2,000. On Thursday, spot Bitcoin ETFs posted net outflows of $223 million, spot Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $121 million, and the HYPE ETF recorded net inflows of $1.7 million.