ICE CEO questions unequal treatment of onchain perpetuals market

Jeffrey Sprecher, chief executive officer of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has said the company wants equal regulatory treatment as it evaluates opportunities in the fast-growing market for onchain perpetual futures.

Speaking at a Bernstein conference on May 27, Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher said the company has been discussing blockchain-based perpetual futures with regulators while also holding multiple meetings with the Hyperliquid team to better understand the fast-growing sector.

Sprecher’s comments come weeks after Bloomberg reported that ICE and CME Group had spoken with Capitol Hill officials about potential risks tied to Hyperliquid’s markets, particularly those connected to global oil trading.

According to Sprecher, those discussions were not an effort to target Hyperliquid but part of ICE’s effort to determine whether existing regulations would permit similar products.

“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?” – Jeffrey Sprecher.

Rather than treating onchain platforms as competitors to be challenged, ICE has been engaging directly with them, according to Sprecher. He said the exchange operator has been learning how decentralized perpetual markets function while helping crypto native firms understand traditional derivatives markets.

“We’re not freaked out about it. We’re actually talking to these people and learning about it.”

ICE explores onchain commodities trading

Interest from ICE comes as blockchain-based perpetual futures attract growing volumes from traders looking for uninterrupted access to markets.

Earlier this month, JPMorgan analysts noted that Hyperliquid had seen rising activity from non-crypto participants using its 24-hour markets to trade oil exposure outside traditional exchange hours.

Sprecher said recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have drawn additional attention to weekend trading activity because major developments often occur when conventional markets are closed.

At the same time, ICE has been building ties with crypto firms that already operate in the sector. Last week, the company announced plans with OKX to launch oil perpetual contracts linked to ICE Brent Crude and WTI Crude benchmarks.

ICE has also invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation and secured a seat on the company’s board. ICE has also backed prediction market platform Polymarket, including a $600 million investment announced in March.

Regulators face questions over market structure

Sprecher added that regulators will eventually need to decide how blockchain-based perpetual futures fit within existing financial rules.

According to Sprecher, policymakers could establish a dedicated framework for perpetual futures or classify them under existing swaps regulations such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S. and EMIR rules in Europe.

Hyperliquid Policy Center, a U.S. advocacy group supporting the protocol, has argued that continuous trading improves market efficiency by removing interruptions between traditional trading sessions and allowing price discovery to occur around the clock.

Another area drawing attention involves private market trading on blockchain platforms. Sprecher pointed to the expected June 11 SpaceX IPO as a real-world test of whether prices discovered through onchain markets influence public listings.

According to Sprecher, the expected June 11 public listing of SpaceX could provide insight into whether prices discovered in onchain markets influence traditional IPO valuations.