Hyperliquid breaks through the ceiling: open interest reaches $10 billion, and USDC revenue hits $160 million annually
The Hyperliquid ecosystem continues to demonstrate impressive momentum. The platform's open interest volume has exceeded the $10 billion mark, allowing the protocol to secure third place among the largest perpetual futures trading venues. This growth is not a coincidence, but the result of a strategic expansion of its toolkit.
The key driver has been the introduction of markets for traditional assets: stocks, commodities, and stock indices. The interest in synthetic instruments is particularly notable: daily trading volume for oil and the Nasdaq 100 index consistently exceeds $100 million. The hype around pre-IPO contracts is also noteworthy — ahead of the SpaceX listing, open interest for the corresponding contract surged to $250 million.
Approximately $4 billion of the total open interest comes from decentralized exchanges created by third-party developers under the HIP-3 initiative. This confirms that the Hyperliquid ecosystem is becoming not just a trading platform, but a full-fledged financial infrastructure.
However, the most significant event was the transition to USDC as the primary settlement asset. After the USDH brand was acquired by Circle and Coinbase, the stablecoin became the platform's liquidity anchor. The partnership terms are impressive: the issuers are required to stake HYPE tokens and share the yield from reserves with the protocol. Hyperliquid will receive about 90% of the profits from Treasury bonds and repo transactions backing USDC on-chain. At current rates, this will bring the platform 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, which should support the asset's market value and reduce inflationary pressure.
Let me remind you that back in May, Hyperliquid's share of the derivatives market reached a record 6.63% of total CEX turnover, amounting to $200 billion out of $3 trillion. Now we see that the platform is not just holding its positions, but actively expanding them, using a hybrid DeFi and TradFi model.
My analysis: Hyperliquid demonstrates a rare case in the crypto industry where a decentralized platform successfully competes with centralized giants. The transition to USDC and integration with traditional markets is not just hype, but a fundamental expansion of the business model. If the growth rate continues, we could see Hyperliquid in the top 2 by open interest within the next few quarters. However, investors should closely monitor the buyback mechanics: $450 million is a serious driver for the HYPE price, but only if the protocol can generate the promised yield.