Hyperliquid (HYPE) took an 11% hit over the past 24 hours, sliding to $55.35 as leveraged positions unwound across the token. The selloff wasn't tied to any specific protocol news — it was a straight speculative unwind. HYPE futures open interest dropped to $5.86 billion, and the broader Crypto Fear and Greed Index cratered to 15, marking extreme fear. Bitcoin slipped 3.1% toward $62,000, dragging the total crypto market cap down 2.24% to about $2.13 trillion.
What drove the panic
HYPE is now down 23.7% over the past week, having given back more than a quarter of its value since hitting an all-time high of $75.48 just eight days ago on June 2. The drop came amid a broader risk-off mood. Geopolitical pressure spiked after President Donald Trump said the US would respond to Iran allegedly shooting down an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. On top of that, the Federal Reserve's June 16–17 meeting carries a 98.2% probability of rates staying unchanged per CME FedWatch — but the uncertainty itself is weighing on speculative assets.
Hyperliquid pushes back on stablecoin rule
While HYPE's price was sliding, Hyperliquid Policy Centre (HPC) was busy in Washington. On June 9, HPC and Paradigm filed a joint comment letter pushing back on a proposed FinCEN/OFAC rule governing stablecoin anti-money-laundering under the GENIUS Act — the stablecoin framework signed into law in July 2025, with implementation expected by January 2027. The proposed rule would require stablecoin issuers to maintain AML programs, file Suspicious Activity Reports, and have the technical ability to block, freeze, or reject transactions violating US law across both primary and secondary markets.
HPC and Paradigm object to the secondary-market scope. They argue that issuers can't identify who is transacting in permissionless environments and would face strict liability for transactions they cannot police. Their alternative: keep heavier compliance on primary markets, apply the Travel Rule only when operators have a direct relationship, and recognize smart-contract-level compliance measures as sufficient. They warned that if issuers are held responsible for all secondary-market interactions, regulated stablecoins may retreat from DeFi, leaving a gap for unregulated offshore alternatives.
What to watch next
Technically, $54 is the immediate support to watch. A break below could open the gap to $44–$54. Holding it could lead to consolidation between $54 and $65. Open interest now sits at $2.48 billion — a stabilization or recovery would suggest selling exhaustion, but further decline alongside a price drop means more unwinding could be ahead. The Fed decision lands next week, and the comment period for the FinCEN rule remains open. Both will shape whether this cleanup turns into a deeper reset.
