Morning Minute: Hyperliquid Is Coming to the US

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors are up 10-20% after Trump’s crypto meeting; BTC at $72k, ETH at $2,300
• Trump says CFTC is working to bring Hyperliquid to US; HYPE and LIT jump 20%+
• Over $3 billion in shorts liquidated in past 24 hours, most since tracking began
• BTC ETFs see $517M in net inflows (most since May), now over $1 billion for week; ETH had $187M
• Coinbase added Hyperliquid perps to the Base app, launched new $1 million accelerator

🏛️ Trump Says the CFTC Is Working to Bring Hyperliquid Onshore

Trump dropped an absolute bullish bombshell yesterday for crypto and perps.

Sitting in the White House with the heads of Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Nasdaq, and ICE, President Trump said his CFTC chair is working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States.

“I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion,” Trump said, referring to CFTC Chair Michael Selig. “Working very hard on that. We would really like to see it.”

And the market exploded. HYPE jumped 23% to $72 at peak. Another perps leader in LIT popped 20% as well to a new local high. The broader crypto market legged up as well (albeit perhaps for other reasons as well, like Bessent’s yield curve control actions). BTC hit $72k, ETH put up a 20% candle to $2,300+ and SOL hit $87. Coinbase (+17%), Circle (+17%) and Robinhood stock (+10%) all soared as well.

For those unfamiliar, Hyperliquid is the offshore venue where traders take leveraged bets through perpetual futures, contracts with no expiration date, by connecting a wallet instead of opening a brokerage account. Americans can’t legally use it. That design routes around the intermediary that U.S. derivatives rules assume exists, which is exactly why registration, customer protection, and market oversight requirements have kept it and most crypto platforms offshore. The CFTC has been building toward this for a year, clearing Coinbase Derivatives for perp-style Bitcoin and Ethereum futures in April 2025 and later approving Kalshi for a similar product.

The rest of the meeting was a pitch to the Senate. Trump asked Congress to pass what he called a fair version of the Clarity Act, the market structure bill that would split SEC and CFTC authority over digital assets, calling it a way to stay ahead of China. That bill returns to the Senate floor in September after lawmakers left for recess without a procedural vote, and Republicans still need roughly six Democratic votes to clear 60.

So where does this leave us? Two days ago the SEC proposed its first formal crypto rules, and Wednesday the president publicly told his CFTC chair to find a path for the biggest offshore perps venue in crypto. The agencies are clearly moving ahead while the Clarity Act sits stuck. And they’re putting serious pressure on Congress to act, or let the SEC and CFTC make their own rules without legislative input.

Now we wait for the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, which meets Thursday for the first time.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are very green up 10-20% after Trump’s crypto meeting yesterday and ahead of today’s CFTC meeting; BTC +12% at $72.1k; ETH +20% at $2,300; SOL +13% at $87; HYPE +23% at $72.30
• Top alt movers include PEPE (+21%), ENA (+20%), SPX (+20%) and LIT (+20%)
• Oil +3% at $88.40; Gold +3% at $4,540
• Stock futures are slightly red as bonds rebound and oil rises; DOW -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.1%
• Over $3B in shorts were liquidated over the past 24 hours as BTC, ETH and other alt leaders legged up 10-20%
• VanEck flagged 8 of 12 capitulation signals firing on Bitcoin, while noting similar setups have produced below-average 90-day and 180-day returns
• FalconX and Ethena set up a $1 billion secured facility deploying assets backing USDe into overcollateralized institutional loans, reducing reliance on perp funding rates
• Fidelity Digital Assets warned that AI agent activity may route to banks and fintechs instead of public blockchains, with stablecoin issuers capturing more upside than base-layer tokens
• Fairshake spent more than $2 million trying to beat Oliver Gilbert in a Florida Democratic primary and lost, drawing criticism for ads built on faked Miami Herald headlines

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were very green up 10-20%; DOGE +10%, SHIB +9%, PEPE +21%, PENGU +10%, TRUMP +18%, BONK +13%
• Robinhood chain saw more major rebounds with Cashcat +22%, PONS +34%, Pipedog +17% and Tendies +31%; GOOD ran 10x to $4M
• Solana leaders included Bome (+69%), Cate (+26%) and Troll (+17%); Ansem +5% to $250M
• On BSC, Niu Lai ran 60% to $65M and CETS +33% to $13M

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

• Kalshi filed with the CFTC to launch a cash-settled copper perps contract priced off Pyth Network data
• Coinbase added perps to Base App through Hyperliquid, giving eligible users 290-plus markets at up to 50x leverage, though not in the U.S., U.K., or Canada
• Base opened applications for Batches 004, a $1 million accelerator investing $100,000 each in 10 pre-seed teams building AI agents, payments, trading, and financing products

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were mixed; Punks +1% at 32.4 ETH, BAYC -4% at 7.6 ETH, Pudgy even at 3.78 ETH; Stonkbrokers -17% to 5.7 ETH
• Cashcats (+20%) and Fuego (+20%) led top movers
• FWA introduced their first FWAir launch project, priced at 0.25 ETH each for 111 NFTs