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Hyperliquid oil volume booming thanks to war in Middle East: JPMorgan

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Hyperliquid oil volume booming thanks to war in Middle East: JPMorgan

Oil volatility triggered by the Iran conflict is pushing traders onto decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Hyperliquid, where markets never close, Wall Street investment bank JPMorgan said in a Wednesday report.

The bank flagged a surge in activity from non-crypto investors using perpetual futures, derivatives with no expiry, to gain round-the-clock oil exposure. Unlike traditional venues, these contracts trade 24/7 and use funding rates to track spot prices.

“In particular, oil trading exploded on the Hyperliquid exchange early this month when the Iran war erupted as CME traders were unable to react when Iranian infrastructure strikes broke over the weekend,” wrote analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.

Market volatility spiked following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, with oil prices leading sharp moves as traders reacted to supply risks and geopolitical uncertainty. The initial shock was amplified by thin liquidity outside traditional trading hours, driving wider price swings and pushing investors toward venues offering continuous, 24/7 market access.

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A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a peer-to-peer marketplace where users trade crypto directly without intermediaries. Unlike centralized exchanges, DEXs are non-custodial, meaning users retain control over their private keys and funds.

Rather than relying on a central operator, DEXs use smart contracts to automatically execute trades and settle them onchain. These trustless systems are a fast-growing part of the crypto market and are driving new types of financial products.

With CME markets shut over the weekend, traders turned to Hyperliquid’s CL-USDC perpetual, which stayed open for price discovery. The contract, margined in USDC with up to 20x leverage, hit $1.7 billion in peak daily volume and is now the platform’s third-most traded product, the bank said. Open interest has climbed to about $300 million.

More broadly, the analysts said demand for 24/7 access to traditional assets is accelerating interest in DEXs. Platforms like Hyperliquid use onchain order books rather than automated market makers, offering tighter spreads and more precise execution closer to traditional markets.

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Features such as sub-second finality and portfolio margining are further attracting institutional traders by enabling faster execution and more capital-efficient strategies.

As a result, DEXs are taking share from mid-tier centralized exchanges in crypto derivatives, driven by speed, liquidity, self-custody and continuous market access, according to the analysts.

The trend is likely to expand beyond commodities as DEXs capitalize on a key gap in traditional finance: markets that don’t close, the report added.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token is up roughly 25% year-to-date, outperforming much of the broader crypto market.

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Read more: Iranian crypto outflows jump 700% minutes after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, Elliptic says

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Crypto World

Dormant Bitcoin Whale Wallet Awakens After 13 Years

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Dormant Bitcoin Whale Wallet Awakens After 13 Years

A long-dormant Bitcoin whale wallet has reactivated after 13 years and seven months of inactivity, shifting 0.00079 BTC ($56), a tiny fraction of a fortune now worth around $147 million. 

Onchain data from BitInfoCharts shows that the legacy address “1NB3ZX…” received 2,100 Bitcoin (BTC) on July 5, 2012, when BTC traded at about $6.59 per coin. At today’s prices, that stash is valued at roughly $147 million, turning an initial outlay of about $13,800 into an unrealized gain of more than 10,000x.

The move caught the eye of onchain trackers like Whale Alert and LookonChain that monitor so-called Satoshi-era addresses, a term often used for coins acquired in Bitcoin’s early years. 

BitInfoCharts shows the address was funded in a single large inflow on July 5, 2012, and then left untouched for almost 14 years.

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Satoshi-era wallet awakens. Source: BitInfoCharts

Traders debate diamond hands vs recovered keys

Bitcoin traders are split between reverence and speculation. Some praised the HODLer’s apparent discipline for holding through multiple boom-and-bust cycles without selling, “No leverage. No day trading. No stress. Just conviction and time. The hardest strategy is also the most profitable.”

Related: Bitcoin whales shift $100M+ as oil spike rattles markets

Others argued that a more likely explanation was that the owner recently recovered their seed phrase or private key, and was sending a test transaction before cashing out a meaningful amount.

Test transactions of a few tens of dollars are common practice among long-inactive holders, who often move a tiny amount first to confirm they still control the wallet and that the destination address is correct.

Traders will now watch closely to see whether the wallet sends more of its 2,100 BTC to exchanges or fresh addresses in the coming days.

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Satoshi-era whale echoes earlier $85 million move

The reawakened 2012 wallet follows another recent move by a Satoshi-era BTC holder in January. On that occasion, a separate address that first accumulated Bitcoin in 2013 transferred its entire balance of about 909 BTC (worth roughly $85 million) to a new wallet after more than 13 years of dormancy.

The whale locked in a gain of around 13,900x on coins originally bought for less than $7 each.

Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author