House probes Hyperliquid over $1.1 billion crypto short before Trump tariffs

House Oversight Chairman James Comer expanded the committee's prediction market insider trading investigation Tuesday to Hyperliquid Labs, citing a roughly $1.1 billion crypto short before President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China last year. An analysis cited by Congress says a trader built the short across Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures about 30 hours before the announcement. The Block reported that the trader placed the final short about one minute before Trump's Truth Social post. The Block reported that the trade generated more than $150 million in profit. Comer sent letters to Hyperliquid Labs, Crypto.com and Aristotle Exchange, which operates PredictIt, requesting records on identity verification and detection of suspicious trading involving nonpublic or classified information. The companies have until Oct. 13 to respond. Comer also questioned Hyperliquid's identity checks and its process for referring suspicious traders to U.S. law enforcement. Comer's letter does not identify the trader or establish that the trader knew Trump's decision in advance. The short involved crypto derivatives, not a prediction market. The Block reported that Hyperliquid launched its HIP-4 event markets in May. Those markets let users trade on outcomes such as inflation and interest-rate decisions. Comer requested records on Hyperliquid markets tied to Fed decisions, elections and geopolitical events, including trades flagged as suspicious. Comer also asked whether current or former Hyperliquid employees or advisers hold or have applied for U.S. government security clearances. Comer's letter cites the April indictment of Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke. Prosecutors allege Van Dyke used classified information about the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro to make more than $409,000 on Polymarket. The committee's investigation began in May with Polymarket and Kalshi. The committee says those companies have provided nearly 1,000 documents. The committee says they have provided five briefings. Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. (NASDAQ:PURR) is a separate publicly traded company focused on the Hyperliquid ecosystem. It held about 33.6 million HYPE tokens.