Hyperliquid breaks through the ceiling: open interest reaches $10 billion, and the ecosystem transitions to USDC
The decentralized derivatives market continues to surprise. The Hyperliquid platform, which was recently perceived as a niche player, is now among the top three largest venues for trading perpetual futures. The open interest volume on the protocol has exceeded the $10 billion mark — and this is not just a number, but a marker of a fundamental shift in the liquidity structure.
The key driver of growth has been the expansion of the toolkit. Hyperliquid launched markets for traditional assets: stocks, commodities, and stock indices. Approximately $4 billion in open interest was generated by decentralized exchanges built by third-party developers under the HIP-3 initiative. This confirms that protocols enabling the creation of custom markets achieve a multiplicative effect.
Particular attention should be paid to trader activity on synthetic instruments. The daily trading volume for oil and the Nasdaq 100 index consistently exceeds $100 million. The hype around pre-IPO markets also shows no signs of abating: ahead of the anticipated SpaceX listing, open interest on the corresponding contract reached $250 million. This indicates that Hyperliquid is becoming not just a crypto exchange, but a full-fledged platform for tokenizing real-world assets.
However, the most significant step is the transition to USDC as the primary settlement asset. After Circle and Coinbase absorbed the USDH brand, the stablecoin became the core of the protocol's liquidity. The partnership terms are strict and favorable for Hyperliquid: issuers are required to stake HYPE tokens and share revenue from reserves. According to estimates, the protocol will receive about 90% of the profits from treasury bonds and repo operations, which, at current rates, will generate approximately $160 million per year.
These funds will be used to buy back and burn native HYPE tokens. The total buyback volume is estimated at $450 million. This mechanism is a classic deflationary scenario that, if executed properly, can significantly support the asset's market value.
Let me remind you that in May, Hyperliquid's share of the derivatives market had already reached a record 6.63% of the total turnover of centralized exchanges. Now, with new instruments and partnerships, this figure could grow even further.
My comment: Hyperliquid demonstrates how a competent integration of TradFi instruments and stablecoins can reshape the derivatives market. If the protocol continues to increase liquidity and maintain returns for HYPE holders, it risks becoming the main competitor to Binance and dYdX in the perpetual futures segment.