Key takeaways

• Hyperliquid’s HYPE token surged 22% to $71.91 following comments from President Donald Trump.
• Trump said CFTC Chair Michael Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the US through a compliant and legal framework.
• HYPE must overcome resistance between $73 and $76 to challenge its record high of $76.87.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) rallied more than 20% on Wednesday after President Donald Trump revealed that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is working on a potential regulatory pathway for the decentralized perpetual futures platform to enter the United States.

HYPE jumped 22% to $71.61 following the remarks, approaching its all-time high of $76.87 as optimism surrounding potential US expansion added to a broader cryptocurrency market recovery.

Trump signals compliant pathway for Hyperliquid

Speaking during a White House meeting with cryptocurrency, financial and technology executives, Trump said CFTC Chair Michael Selig was working to establish a legal route for Hyperliquid to operate in the US.

“I understand that Mike [Selig] is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion, working very hard on that,” Trump said. “We would really like to see it.”

The president’s comments do not mean that regulators have approved Hyperliquid to offer its services in the country. However, they confirm that the CFTC is considering how the platform could enter the US while complying with federal derivatives regulations.

The agency authorized the first perpetual futures contracts on registered US exchanges earlier this year, marking an important step toward bringing the popular cryptocurrency derivatives product into the domestic market.

Perpetual futures are derivatives contracts that allow traders to speculate on an asset’s price without an expiration date.

The products account for a substantial share of global cryptocurrency trading but have traditionally been concentrated on offshore and decentralized platforms due to regulatory restrictions in the US.

A compliant pathway could give Hyperliquid access to one of the world’s largest financial markets while potentially attracting greater institutional participation.

However, operating in the country would likely require the platform to satisfy rules governing registration, market surveillance, customer protection, anti-money laundering measures and derivatives trading.

Trump’s comments came during a wider White House gathering involving leaders from the cryptocurrency and traditional financial industries.

Attendees included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman and Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher also attended, alongside representatives from Chainlink and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Government officials at the meeting included SEC Chair Paul Atkins, CFTC Chair Michael Selig and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt.

Trump used the event to reaffirm his administration’s ambition to position the US at the forefront of emerging technologies.

“We’re ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader not only in Bitcoin and crypto but also technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence and much more,” Trump said.

He also criticized the previous administration’s policies, arguing that they discouraged digital asset innovation in the US.

HYPE approaches all-time high

HYPE climbed 22% to $71.61 after Trump’s remarks, placing the token within reach of its $76.87 all-time high.

The immediate resistance zone sits between $73 and $76. A decisive move above this area could allow HYPE to establish a new record and potentially target the next major resistance near $94.80.

Failure to overcome the $73-to-$76 region could trigger profit-taking after Wednesday’s sharp advance.

The rally also benefited from strength across the broader cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana recorded substantial gains as a market-wide short squeeze contributed to nearly $3 billion in liquidations over 24 hours.

Key takeaways

• Pi Network trades at $0.09 after recording three consecutive bullish daily closes earlier this week.
• Expanded US Treasury bond buybacks have improved risk appetite and pushed Bitcoin toward $70,000, but PI continues to underperform.
• The token must break above the psychological $0.1000 level and the 50% Fibonacci retracement at $0.1022 to extend its recovery.

Pi Network (PI) trades around $0.090 on Thursday, preserving its three-day recovery from earlier in the week but continuing to lag behind the broader cryptocurrency market.

Renewed risk appetite has pushed Bitcoin above $71,000 after the US Treasury expanded its longer-term securities buyback operations. 

However, PI has failed to attract enough buying pressure to produce a comparable rally.

The token must overcome the psychological $0.1000 threshold to strengthen its recovery and support a more sustained bullish move.

Treasury buybacks lift crypto sentiment

The US Treasury announced that it would at least double the maximum size of certain liquidity-support buyback operations from $2 billion to $4 billion per transaction.

The initiative is intended to support liquidity in the longer-dated Treasury market and address concerns surrounding rising borrowing costs.

Improving bond-market liquidity and easing long-term yields have strengthened investor confidence in higher-risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has benefited substantially from the shift in sentiment, advancing toward $70,000 alongside sharp gains across several major altcoins.

Pi Network, however, remains among the market’s notable underperformers. Derivatives data indicates a modest improvement in speculative interest around PI, but retail demand remains relatively weak.

CoinAnk data shows that PI futures Open Interest increased to $9.30 million from $8.82 million the previous day. Open Interest measures the total value of outstanding derivatives contracts and typically rises when traders establish new positions.

Despite the daily increase, the figure remains considerably below the July 15 peak of $12.14 million.

The subdued level suggests that traders remain hesitant to commit substantial capital to PI, even as improving market conditions encourage risk-taking elsewhere in the cryptocurrency sector.

Without a more substantial increase in participation, Pi Network may struggle to keep pace with the broader market recovery.

Technical outlook: Can PI rebound toward $0.10?

Pi Network trades near $0.090 on Thursday, maintaining a neutral short-term outlook.

The token recorded three consecutive bullish daily closes earlier this week, producing a cumulative gain of approximately 4%.

PI has also moved above the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $0.0839, measured from the downswing between $0.1341 and $0.0703.

Holding above this level preserves the possibility of an extended recovery. However, PI still faces significant resistance around the psychological $0.1000 mark.

The token’s immediate technical resistance sits at the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.1022.

A decisive daily close above the $0.1000-to-$0.1022 zone could strengthen bullish momentum and attract additional retail participation.

Such a move would also suggest that PI is beginning to capitalize on the improving sentiment across the broader cryptocurrency market.

Failure to overcome this resistance zone could keep the token confined to its current range and increase the likelihood of renewed selling pressure.

PI’s daily momentum indicators reflect a cautious recovery rather than a decisive bullish reversal.

The Relative Strength Index is hovering near the neutral level of 50, indicating that neither buyers nor sellers have established clear control.

Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator remains slightly above its signal line, while its bullish histogram gradually expands. This configuration points to mild upside momentum, but the signal remains too weak to confirm a sustained rally.

A stronger RSI move above 50, accompanied by further MACD expansion and rising Open Interest, would improve PI’s near-term outlook.

The 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $0.0839 remains PI’s primary support level.

Buyers must defend this area to preserve the current recovery structure. A decisive break below $0.0839 could invalidate the latest rebound and expose the swing low at $0.0703.

Conversely, holding above $0.0839 while building momentum toward $0.1000 would keep the bullish recovery scenario intact.

GnosisDAO approved Gnosis Chain’s transition from a standalone layer-1 network to a ZK-proven Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) rollup.

GIP-153 received 123,158 GNO in support, 115 against and 151 abstaining across 54 voters, Gnosis Chain said in an X post. Turnout reached 123,425 GNO, exceeding the 75,000 quorum.

Under the proposal, Gnosis Chain’s validator set would be retired and the network would settle transactions on Ethereum, making Gnosis Chain a layer-2 (L2) that relies on Ethereum’s validators for settlement.

An initial launch is targeted for late 2026 or early 2027, subject to the required EEZ technology being ready.

The update would enable Gnosis Chain-native smart contracts to call Ethereum and use the result in the same transaction, giving it access to Ethereum mainnet assets and liquidity in an environment “optimized” for consumers, a capability the proposal says is not currently available on existing L2s.

Gnosis Chain to become first production EEZ instance

The EEZ is a framework for building Ethereum-aligned rollups, developed by Gnosis and ZisK, with funding from the Ethereum Foundation.

The initiative aims to unify Ethereum’s fragmented L2 ecosystem by enabling smart contracts across different rollups to execute synchronously without relying on bridges. It targets one of Ethereum’s main scaling trade-offs: improved throughput from dozens of L2 networks, which separate liquidity, infrastructure, and user activity across separate blockchains.

Gnosis Chain would become its first deployed instance while retaining its existing applications, balances and xDAI gas token.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin previously raised concerns about the centralized sequencers and trusted bridging mechanisms as potential weak points in the design of some L2 networks. “The original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path,” Buterin wrote in a Feb. 3 X post. 

According to data from L2Beat, 22 Ethereum rollups currently secure $27.82 billion. Including validiums, optimiums and other scaling networks, the platform tracks $34.88 billion in total value secured.

Related: Ripple raises $275M for US prime brokerage to meet institutional demand

EEZ could reduce reliance on vulnerable infrastructure: Standard Chartered

EEZ could reduce reliance on blockchain bridges and increase activity within the Ethereum ecosystem, according to Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered. 

“The EEZ will have the benefit of reducing the need for bridges (where hacks tend to occur) and increasing the usability of assets in EVM chains,” he wrote in a May 28 report shared with Cointelegraph.

“Both of these are likely to lead to greater activity in the Ethereum ecosystem.” 

Kendrick said the EEZ could create greater composability between assets, allowing smart contracts on different participating networks to interact within the same transaction.

Magazine: Ethereum’s EEZ could pull other blockchains into its orbit

HTX denied authorizing a series of disputed cryptocurrency microtransfers on Aug. 20 after some users alleged that funds originating from HTX-linked addresses caused compliance restrictions at Kraken and other exchanges.

An HTX representative using the @HTX_Molly account said an internal review found no activity from official company accounts. The representative suggested that affected users could have initiated transfers independently while trying to protest or test Kraken’s restrictions.

The same representative claimed that funds frozen at Kraken included cases worth as much as $4.2 million. HTX did not publish account records, transaction hashes or communications from Kraken supporting that figure. Kraken has not publicly confirmed the alleged maximum.

HTX says it found no official transfer activity

The reports began after users identified small unsolicited USDT transfers from addresses labeled as connected to HTX. Some commentators described the transfers as address poisoning intended to trigger compliance systems at other platforms.

HTX said its internal checks found no evidence that an official account initiated a coordinated campaign. Justin Sun separately called reports that HTX deliberately sent the transfers “made up,” while the exchange said it was examining address labels and the transfers’ sources.

Available onchain reporting has not established who controlled every sending address. One community review found that a batch of 7.5 USDT transfers from an HTX-labeled hot wallet went to addresses attributed to Kraken.

Wallet labels alone do not prove that HTX authorized a transfer. Exchange deposit addresses, payment processors, intermediaries and user-controlled withdrawal activity can complicate attribution. Public transaction hashes would be needed to test the findings independently.

As crypto.news previously reported, HTX’s initial investigation found no verified connection between disputed transfers and subsequent account freezes. The exchange has not released a complete address list or final investigation report.

Kraken confirms restrictions tied to U.K. sanctions

Kraken has confirmed a broader policy of restricting transfers associated with Huobi or HTX. The exchange said U.K. government sanctions require it to restrict funds transferred from Huobi into Kraken customer accounts.

Kraken has not said that every incoming transfer from an HTX-labeled address produces a full account freeze. It has also not confirmed that the recent microtransfers caused specific customer restrictions.

The policy followed the U.K.’s May 26 designation of Huobi Global S.A. under its Russia sanctions regime. The government said it had reasonable grounds to suspect that the company was involved in making funds or economic resources available to entities in Russia’s financial sector.

HTX disputed the designation’s application to its exchange. In its May statement, HTX argued that Huobi Global S.A. was distinct from the online platform and said its operations remained unaffected.

The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation rejected that distinction. Its official guidance says the designation applies to the HTX exchange because OFSI considers Huobi Global to own it under U.K. sanctions rules.

Kraken’s restrictions therefore have a confirmed regulatory basis. Whether each affected customer’s transaction legally requires an extended freeze depends on the ownership, source, timing and sanctions exposure involved in that case.

The $4.2 million claim remains unverified

The @HTX_Molly representative said HTX had researched Kraken restrictions during the previous two days and found that some users remained unable to access funds. The representative cited $4.2 million as the highest known amount.

No evidence accompanying the statement established whether that amount belonged to one account, several linked accounts or a transfer under a specific legal hold. It is also unclear whether the restriction followed the recent microtransfers or earlier direct dealings with HTX.

The representative said HTX had created a group for affected Kraken customers to collect cases and seek the release of funds. HTX characterized those efforts as voluntary user activity rather than exchange-directed transfers.

Kraken advises restricted customers to respond to requests for documentation and contact its support team. The exchange may impose restrictions for sanctions compliance, account security, payment reversals or other reviews. These categories are separate from temporary withdrawal holds routinely applied after certain purchases or account changes.

The incident resembles compliance poisoning

Classic address poisoning usually involves sending small transfers from lookalike addresses. The attacker hopes a victim will later copy the fraudulent address from their transaction history and send funds to it.

The reported HTX transfers present a different scenario. The alleged objective would be to associate a recipient with a sanctioned or compliance-sensitive address, potentially triggering automated screening. “Compliance poisoning” is therefore a more precise description if intentional conduct is eventually established.

The current evidence does not establish intent. Receiving an unsolicited transfer also does not, by itself, show that a recipient knowingly dealt with a sanctioned entity.

HTX’s next step is to publish its final review, including verified sending addresses and transaction hashes. Kraken may also clarify how it evaluates unsolicited transfers and what documentation affected users need to restore access.

Until then, the official record supports three narrower findings: the U.K. sanctions apply to HTX, Kraken restricts affected transfers, and HTX denies authorizing the disputed microtransactions. The alleged $4.2 million freeze and any coordinated poisoning campaign remain unverified claims.