The MiCA deadline is ten days out, and the Nordic battle for institutional clients is already underway — with K33, Firi and Safello all licensed and chasing the same wealthy clients across the same markets. Elsewhere, Hyperliquid is having the week bitcoin isn't: HYPE is up 13% while bitcoin gives back its gains, and Strategy's preferred stock is trading near historic lows as income investors quietly move to a rival.

Some of the stories in today's newsletter:

♦️ Kaupr maps the Nordic battle for institutional crypto clients after MiCA — and K33's CEO explains the strategy in an exclusive video interview.
♦️ Hyperliquid open interest tops $10 billion as Wall Street builds its first regulated hedging tools around HYPE.
♦️ Bitcoin falls below $63,000 as the week's bounce fades — and Strategy's preferred stock hits near-historic lows.

Have a great read!

Morten

📖 Did you catch? In early June, Kaupr mapped the narratives replacing bitcoin as the market's dominant story — perps, AI, privacy, and Hyperliquid as Wall Street's after-hours venue. And in April, we tracked the first big HYPE surge. Today's Hyperliquid block is the next chapter.

Crypto's new map — Thu 4 Jun · HYPE up 108% — what's driving the surge

Safello, Firi and K33 have all secured MiCA licences — but the licence is only the starting gun. Kaupr has mapped how six Nordic players are positioning for the real prize: institutions, private banking and wealth managers. Sweden, the Nordics' largest capital market, is likely to be the decisive battleground.

Why it matters: The professional client segment is where the biggest post-MiCA revenue potential lies. Who wins Sweden may determine the dominant Nordic crypto gateway for years.

Source: The battle for the Nordics' biggest crypto clients is on after MiCA — Kaupr

In an exclusive Kaupr video interview, K33 CEO Torbjørn Bull Jenssen explains what the MiCA licence means in practice: EEA passporting, bank partnerships and a focus on wealthy clients "not necessarily tied to a specific jurisdiction." He expects it will take years before major banks go all in — and doesn't rule out Goobit as a consolidation partner.

Why it matters: A candid strategic read on the day of receiving a MiCA licence, including his critique that the rules are disproportionate for smaller players like Bitmynt.

Read and watch: K33 targets big Nordic clients, not bound by borders — Kaupr · Watch on YouTube

Earlier on Kaupr: In April, HYPE surged 108% in a short period. Here's what drove it — and the backdrop for this week's Hyperliquid stories: HYPE up 108% — here's what's driving the surge

A Talos report puts Hyperliquid's perpetual futures open interest above $10 billion, ranking it third globally. Around $4 billion sits in HIP-3 markets covering oil, Nasdaq 100 and SpaceX — with more than 60% of oil perp volume and nearly half of S&P 500 perp volume happening outside US market hours.

Why it matters: Concrete scale behind the "bigger than Nasdaq" narrative — Hyperliquid is pulling traditional asset exposure into 24-hour crypto rails at a pace that's hard to dismiss.

Source: Hyperliquid Open Interest Tops $10B as Perps Move Into Equities and Commodities — Yahoo Finance (CryptoProwl/Talos)

Options on Bitwise's HYPE ETF began trading, giving TradFi desks their first regulated way to hedge Hyperliquid exposure. The catch: Hyperliquid trades 24/7, while ETF options halt on weekends — meaning a Friday-night crypto move can't be hedged until Monday.

Why it matters: A structural gap that grows as more TradFi capital enters HYPE through ETF wrappers — the 24-hour nature of Hyperliquid that makes it attractive also makes traditional hedging lag.

Source: Wall Street can now hedge Hyperliquid's HYPE, but weekends carry a real risk — CryptoSlate

Hyperion DeFi CEO Hyunsu Jung argues HYPE remains undervalued because investors still treat Hyperliquid as a DEX rather than a full financial ecosystem, comparing its fully diluted valuation to CME, Interactive Brokers and Robinhood. He sees the Clarity Act as a potential catalyst for institutional inflows.

Why it matters: Jung's company holds two million HYPE tokens — treat this as informed advocacy. But the Clarity Act angle is a real catalyst worth tracking.

Source: Hyperliquid poised to become more than an exchange and drive HYPE higher, Hyperion CEO says — The Block

ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher told a Bernstein conference that Hyperliquid clears more daily notional perp volume than Nasdaq, and praised its 11-person core team. He argued the platform's unregulated offshore status highlights a gap in US and European derivatives rules that policymakers must close — either through a new perpetual futures category or by bringing them under Dodd-Frank and EMIR.

Why it matters: The most credible voice in this block — an incumbent exchange CEO with no financial stake in HYPE, publicly validating Hyperliquid's scale while calling for regulation that would reshape the competitive landscape.

Source: ICE CEO calls Hyperliquid bigger than Nasdaq, says he's met its founders — CoinDesk

Bitcoin dropped to around $62,700 on Friday in holiday-thinned trading, erasing the week's gains as risk assets retreated globally. HYPE was the only major winner on the week, up 13.2%. Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov told CoinDesk builders should not count on an altseason for at least three more years, and focus instead on token economics tied to real project revenue.

Why it matters: The week's bounce has fully unwound — and the structural questions about this bitcoin cycle remain open going into the weekend.

Source: Bitcoin falls below $63,000 as risk assets sell off and the week's bounce fades — CoinDesk

Strategy's preferred stock STRC closed at $91.79, its third-lowest level since launch, nearly $8 below its $100 par value. Bitcoin pressure and a drop in dividend coverage to around seven months — after using cash reserves to repay $1.5 billion in convertible debt — are weighing on it. Investors are moving toward rival Strive's SATA, which offers a higher yield, daily dividends and a debt-free structure.

Why it matters: The STRC/SATA spread is the clearest live signal of how income investors are reading the bitcoin treasury model under pressure — and right now SATA's debt-free structure is winning.

Source: Here is why Strategy's dividend-paying crypto stock is crashing to near-historic lows — CoinDesk

🎙 Kaupr Weekly — this weekend This week's episode drops in your inbox and on all podcast platforms. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube — or read it in the weekend digest of Kaupr Today.

Thank you for reading Kaupr Today. If you find this briefing useful, please share it with a colleague or friend who should be following Nordic and European digital‑finance news more closely.

Kaupr Today now has its own home — read, listen, watch and explore at today.kaupr.io.

Wishing you a great Friday — look out for the podcast Kaupr Weekly, published in our weekly digest in your inbox this weekend, and welcome back to the daily briefing on Monday.

Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor