Wall Street Panics as Hyperliquid Poses Existential Threat to Derivatives Giants

On May 31, Wall Street institutions now view Hyperliquid as a direct challenger to traditional derivatives franchises after its rapid rise in perpetual futures. The narrative escalated from ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher’s May 27 Bernstein remarks labeling the platform “bigger than Nasdaq” and prompting trading-hour adjustments, to KuCoin’s May 29 call for a trust-based infrastructure shift. Hyperliquid’s 70% share of decentralized perps, billions in daily volume, and 100:1 leverage have forced incumbents including ICE to accelerate strategic responses such as the reported $2 billion Polymarket investment.