Autor Cointelegraph by Bryan OShea

Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE surged about 20% Thursday after New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced plans for US perpetual futures with Trade[XYZ], whose investors include billionaire Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller.HYPE traded above $96 at the time of writing, up by around 20% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, flirting with September’s all-time record of $97.96.Perpetual futures allow traders to take positions on asset prices without an expiration date. Hyperliquid is the largest decentralized exchange in the world to trade such instruments, DefiLlama data shows.HYPE surged about 20% on Thursday. Source: CoinGeckoThe companies said Thursday they would seek regulatory approval for markets covering cryptocurrencies, stocks, indexes, commodities and currencies. The proposed market would target retail traders. ICE said it would operate separately from its institutional futures business, with a dedicated clearing structure.More than 99% of participation in its markets is institutional, ICE said, with the separate clearing structure intended to shield existing customers from retail counterparty risks.The proposal would give US retail traders a regulated route to Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures, and ICE a new route into retail trading. President Donald Trump said on Aug. 19 that Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig was working to bring Hyperliquid into the country in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.” Related: Wall Street wealth creation model is unsustainable for most participants: Hyperliquid CEODruckenmiller investment draws Musk reaction“I am excited to be an investor in trade(xyz),” Druckenmiller wrote on X, adding that he looked forward to using its products.Elon Musk also drew attention to the agreement, sharing Druckenmiller’s post with the one-word comment “Interesting.”ICE is taking a minority stake in Trade[XYZ], but disclosed neither the investment amount nor a launch date. Cointelegraph reached out to ICE and Trade[XYZ] for comment but had not received a response by publication.Customers would undergo identity and Anti-Money-Laundering checks and trade through participating futures brokers.Distribution is expected through ICE’s joint venture with OKX, pending separate approvals. ICE invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation in March. Related: ICE, CME press US regulators to ‘rein in’ Hyperliquid energy trading: ReportOKX venture faces issuer objectionsMeanwhile, ICE’s separate tokenized stock venture with OKX has disclosed objections from 38 companies, up from 26 reported by Cointelegraph on Oct. 27. Its Oct. 28 notice adds Walmart, Eli Lilly, Carnival, Arcos Dorados and Cigna. However, those objections concern tokenized shares, while the Trade[XYZ] proposal involves perpetual futures and remains subject to separate regulatory approvals.The regulatory opening remains conditional. The CFTC approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual contract in May, but said perpetuals referencing other asset classes should receive case-by-case review.Magazine: HYPE price could suffer as Binance takes its revenue: Alice Liu

Ken Griffin’s Citadel reportedly bought a large proportion of the public stock portfolio of Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.The Financial Times first reported Thursday that Citadel bought the discounted portfolio after heavy losses during July’s artificial intelligence stock market rout. The transaction followed Aschenbrenner’s fund falling about 67% in July, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a person who saw a letter sent to investors. The letter said the fund remained up about 80% for the year. The Financial Times previously reported the fund was up 439% through June.Those reports suggested Situational had approached existing investors and lenders for fresh capital and offered some investors the option to buy portfolio assets. The Journal also reported Situational needed cash to meet margin calls from its lenders and that the fund agreed late Wednesday to sell $3.5 billion of Anthropic shares to a group led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital before withdrawing from the deal Thursday morning.Reuters separately reported the leveraged-portfolio detail but said it could not determine whether formal margin calls had been issued before the sale. Reuters said Situational retained roughly $10 billion in stocks and private investments, including Anthropic.AI holdings suffered steep July fallsSeveral stocks linked to the fund suffered sharp declines in July. Sandisk remained down about 44% for the month even after closing Thursday up 26%. CoreWeave fell nearly 26% in July, while Bloom Energy was down around 32%, Yahoo Finance data shows.Related: Former OpenAI researcher foresees AGI reality in 2027Situational’s US Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed direct share positions in all three companies as of March 31.The same filing showed about $1.11 billion in shares of seven Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, including Iren, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark. Cointelegraph previously reported that the positions gave Situational exposure to miners expanding into AI and high-performance computing by repurposing their power supplies and data center sites.It remains unclear what stocks were part of the transaction between Citadel and Situational or whether the fund retained any of its Bitcoin miner positions.Related: Bitcoin miner Core Scientific shifts to AI with 1.5GW data center pushAschenbrenner’s fund takes its name from his 2024 essay series, “Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,” which argued that artificial general intelligence could arrive by 2027 and drive enormous demand for computing power and electricity.Before joining OpenAI, Aschenbrenner was a member of the FTX Future Fund’s five-person team and signed its November 2022 resignation notice as FTX collapsed.Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness and Citadel for comment but had not received a response by publication.Magazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures

Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded in 2024 by ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has approached investors and lenders for fresh capital after suffering heavy losses in the recent artificial intelligence stock sell-off, the Financial Times reported Thursday.The fund, which the Wall Street Journal said had around $20 billion in assets under management as of June 8, has also offered some investors the option to buy portfolio assets, according to the FT, citing people briefed on the discussions and a July 24 investor letter. The size of the losses and amount sought were not disclosed. Aschenbrenner’s fund had gained 439% after fees through June, according to the letter, but the FT said borrowing increased the size of the fund’s bets, driving up losses when AI stocks collapsed during July’s market rout. Aschenbrenner also reportedly argued in the letter that the sell-off had created attractive investment opportunities.Cointelegraph previously reported that the fund had made a big bet in its portfolio around the power and data centers supporting AI, including Bitcoin (BTC) miners pivoting into AI computing. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March showed about $1.11 billion in positions across seven Bitcoin miner stocks, including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark.Aschenbrenner wrote a series of essays on artificial general intelligence in mid-2024 around the same time he launched his Situational Awareness fund. In it, he predicted that AGI machines will outpace college graduates by the end of the decade.Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness for comment but had not received a response by publication.Related: Bitcoin mining’s 2026 reckoning: AI pivots, margin pressure and a fight to surviveThis article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.