Hyperliquid breaks $10 billion mark in open interest: a new record for decentralized derivatives
The open interest (OI) on the Hyperliquid platform has exceeded $10 billion for the first time. This achievement has propelled the protocol to third place among the largest perpetual futures trading venues, confirming a shift in liquidity towards DeFi infrastructure.
The key growth driver has been the expansion of the toolkit beyond cryptocurrencies. The launch of markets for traditional assets — stocks, commodities, and stock indices — has attracted institutional interest. Approximately $4 billion of open interest comes from decentralized exchanges built by third-party developers under the HIP-3 initiative. This speaks to the maturity of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, where users are no longer just trading but building their own financial primitives.
Traders are actively using synthetic instruments. Daily trading volume for oil and the Nasdaq 100 index regularly exceeds $100 million. The pre-IPO market deserves special attention: ahead of the anticipated SpaceX listing, open interest for the corresponding contract surged to $250 million. This indicates growing demand for tokenized stakes in major private companies.
The most important strategic step was the transition to USDC as the primary settlement asset. After the USDH brand was acquired by Circle and Coinbase, the stablecoin has been fully integrated into the platform. Under the partnership terms, issuers are required to stake HYPE tokens and share the yield from reserves with the protocol. At current rates, Hyperliquid will receive approximately 90% of profits from Treasury bonds and repo transactions, generating around $160 million per year for the platform.
Additional revenues will be directed towards buying back and burning native HYPE tokens. The expected buyback volume is $450 million. According to the project's mechanics, burning will reduce supply and support the asset's market value. This is a classic but effective tool for increasing market capitalization.
As a reminder, back in May, Hyperliquid's share of the derivatives market reached a record 6.63% of total centralized exchange turnover, amounting to $200 billion out of $3 trillion. Now, with new instruments and partnerships, the platform's potential looks far more significant.
My analysis: Hyperliquid demonstrates that decentralized platforms can compete with CEXs not only in volume but also in product complexity. The transition to USDC and the launch of traditional markets are not just a trend but a fundamental shift. If the growth rate continues, Hyperliquid could become the main challenger to Binance and Bybit in the derivatives segment.