Hyperliquid surges to $10 billion: open interest reaches an all-time high
The Hyperliquid platform continues to demonstrate impressive momentum: the open interest volume on the protocol has exceeded the $10 billion mark. This metric has propelled Hyperliquid to third place among the largest perpetual futures trading venues, indicating rapidly growing confidence from both institutional and retail traders.
A key driver of this growth has been the launch of markets for traditional assets — stocks, commodities, and stock indices. Approximately $4 billion of the total open interest volume came from decentralized exchanges created by third-party developers under the HIP-3 mechanism. This confirms that the Hyperliquid ecosystem is successfully scaling by attracting external developers.
Synthetic Instruments and Pre-IPO: New Horizons
Traders are actively using the synthetic instruments offered by the platform. Oil and the Nasdaq 100 index regularly see over $100 million in daily trading volume. Of particular note is the interest in pre-IPO markets: ahead of the SpaceX listing, open interest in the corresponding contract reached $250 million. This shows that Hyperliquid is becoming a venue for trading assets unavailable on traditional exchanges.
Transition to USDC and a New Economic Model
An important stage in the ecosystem's development has been the transition to the USDC stablecoin. Following the integration of the USDH brand by Circle and Coinbase, USDC has become the platform's primary settlement asset. Under the partnership terms, issuers are required to stake HYPE tokens and share the yield from reserves with the protocol. Hyperliquid will receive approximately 90% of the profits from Treasury bonds and repo transactions backing USDC on-chain. At current rates, this will bring the platform around $160 million annually.
The protocol will allocate additional revenues to buy back and burn native HYPE tokens. The total buyback amount is expected to be $450 million. This deflationary measure will reduce the asset's supply and support its market value, positively impacting the long-term outlook for HYPE holders.
Market Share and Prospects
As a reminder, in May, Hyperliquid's share of perpetual futures trading volume rose to a record 6.63% of the total turnover on centralized exchanges — $200 million out of $3 trillion. This is an impressive result for a decentralized platform that continues to capture market share from traditional giants.
My expert opinion: Hyperliquid demonstrates that decentralized platforms can not only compete with CEXs but also surpass them in innovation. The transition to USDC and the launch of synthetic instruments create a sustainable economic model that could attract even more institutional players. However, the key risk remains regulatory uncertainty surrounding pre-IPO markets and synthetic assets.