Jeffrey Sprecher, chair and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), said it is seeking a "level playing field" for onchain perpetual futures trading, amid recent reports that ICE and CME Group had urged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take a tougher stance on Hyperliquid.
During a fireside chat at a Bernstein conference on Wednesday, Sprecher said that ICE — the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange — has met the Hyperliquid team multiple times to discuss overlapping business areas, as 24/7 onchain commodities derivatives trading gains momentum globally.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that ICE and CME, a major energy exchange, have held conversations with Capitol Hill officials about the alleged risks in Hyperliquid, particularly involving global oil prices.
During the Wednesday talk, Sprecher said the reported conversations were more exploratory inquiries for ICE's potential entry into the onchain perps market, currently dominated by Hyperliquid.
"What we are saying to the regulators is, 'Can we do that?' Why are you prohibiting us from doing this when it's already happening? And can't we have a level playing field? And by the way, this stuff is global," said Sprecher.
