Hyperliquid has broken through the $10 billion mark in open interest: decentralized derivatives are on the rise.
The Hyperliquid platform continues to demonstrate impressive momentum: the volume of Open Interest on its protocol has exceeded $10 billion. This achievement has allowed the project to take third place among the largest platforms for trading perpetual futures, trailing only centralized giants Binance and Bybit.
The key driver of this growth has been the expansion of its market lineup beyond cryptocurrencies. Hyperliquid is actively launching contracts on traditional assets — stocks, commodities, and stock indices. Interest in synthetic instruments is particularly notable: the daily trading volume for oil and the Nasdaq 100 index consistently exceeds $100 million. Another striking example is the SpaceX pre-IPO market, where open interest ahead of the anticipated listing reached $250 million.
Decentralized Exchanges and the HIP-3 Ecosystem
Approximately $4 billion of the total open interest comes from decentralized exchanges (DEXs) built by third-party developers under the HIP-3 initiative. This confirms that Hyperliquid's model as a base layer for liquidity and settlement resonates with the community, enabling the construction of specialized trading applications on top of the protocol.
Transition to USDC and a New Economic Model
The most important strategic move has been the full transition to the USDC stablecoin. After the USDH brand was acquired by Circle and Coinbase, USDC became the platform's primary settlement asset. The partnership terms require mandatory staking of HYPE tokens by issuers and the distribution of yield from reserves. Hyperliquid will receive approximately 90% of the profits from Treasury bonds and repo operations backing USDC within the network. At current interest rates, this will bring the platform roughly $160 million annually.
These additional revenues will be directed toward buying back and burning native HYPE tokens. The expected buyback volume is $450 million, which will exert significant deflationary pressure on the asset's supply and should support its market value in the long term.
Recall that as early as May, Hyperliquid's share of the derivatives market reached a record 6.63% of the total turnover of centralized exchanges, amounting to $200 billion out of $3 trillion. Now, with new instruments and partnerships, this share is likely even higher.
My analysis: Hyperliquid is confidently moving toward becoming the primary infrastructure layer for derivatives in DeFi. The combination of high liquidity, expansion into traditional markets, and a well-thought-out tokenomics with a buyback mechanism creates a strong foundation. However, it is worth remembering that such rapid growth attracts the attention of regulators, especially in the context of stock trading and pre-IPO contracts. This is something to watch.