Bankless|07. Juli
Why Hyperliquid Could Win the Everything Exchange Race
🌍 The Goal: The 'Everything Exchange'
- Hyperliquid (HYPE) has the potential to evolve from a pure perpetual exchange (Perp-DEX) into the central platform for trading any asset – from crypto, stocks, and commodities to event contracts.
- This vision of a global, decentralized exchange is called the 'Everything Exchange'.
- Portfolio Margining – The most important feature: A single collateral account (cross-margin) for all positions (e.g., Bitcoin, oil, options). This enables efficient, hedged trades and creates a powerful network effect that locks in users.
- HIPP3 – Permissionless Markets: Anyone can create new markets by posting a 500,000 HYPE bond. This has decentralized market creation, allowing assets like oil and gold to be added rapidly. It already accounts for over a third of trading volume.
- Builder Codes: Developers can build their own frontends that connect to Hyperliquid and earn a fee share. This turns potential competitors into collaborators and improves distribution.
- Token Economics: The HYPE token is the core asset for value capture. All platform revenue is used to buy back and burn HYPE. It is also required for staking and gas fees.
- Simple & direct: No complex structure with an equity entity and a separate token. The platform's revenue buys back and burns HYPE.
- Tushar Jain (Multicoin) breaks down the four key assumptions for token value:
- Growth of total crypto derivatives volume
- DEX market share of that volume
- Hyperliquid's share of the DEX market
- Interest income from stablecoin balances (via the Coinbase partnership)
- Real user interest vs. incentivized volume from competitors (e.g., Aevo, Lighter):
- Real traction is shown by liquidation data, which cannot be faked.
- Open Interest is a better indicator than pure trading volume, as it locks up real capital.
- Hyperliquid has a significantly higher ratio of liquidations to volume compared to competitors, indicating real, risk-taking users.
- Hyperliquid is currently mostly offshore, which offers more freedom.
- A plausible path to the US market involves:
- Legalization of perps by the CFTC (first steps taken with Kalshi).
- Passage of the 'Clarity Act' to legally protect DeFi protocols.
- Hyperliquid meeting the act's criteria (e.g., open source, validator count).
- Regulated frontends (e.g., large wallets like Phantom) routing volume to Hyperliquid.
- Biggest excitement: The combination of the decentralized vision ('DeFi mullet') and the extreme execution speed of the small, high-quality team (~14 engineers).
- Risks: The team's monthly token unlocks are substantial (~10 million HYPE per month). The team, however, appears to remain highly motivated by the mission, not just wealth.
- Tushar's core message: The path to the Everything Exchange is not fixed, but Hyperliquid is the most credible path forward.
