On Tuesday, the Hyperliquid token (HYPE) hit a new all-time high of $65, briefly pushing it into the top ten cryptocurrencies by market value and sparking renewed interest in the platform’s momentum. A day later, on Wednesday, Grayscale Research released a report explaining why Hyperliquid has been so successful so far, what has helped it grow beyond crypto trading, and what investors might look for next.
Hyperliquid Beyond Crypto Perps
In its report, Grayscale noted that Hyperliquid’s scale and growth can now be compared to the largest crypto derivatives platforms, pointing to rising activity alongside its open interest and fees. The firm said Hyperliquid handled about $2.9 trillion in perpetual futures (perps) volume in 2025 and currently holds roughly $7 billion in open interest.
Grayscale ranked Hyperliquid as the third or fourth-largest perpetual futures exchange by open interest, emphasizing that volume, open interest, fees, and market awareness have all grown together, even as the platform has started expanding from crypto-native products into a wider range of tradable assets.
One key theme was that Hyperliquid hasn’t limited its growth to traditional crypto perps. Instead, it has moved toward a broader set of products through an open architecture approach.
The Success of HIP-3 and HIP-4
New features are introduced through Hyperliquid Improvement Proposals (HIPs), and these products are built and deployed by third-party teams, not by Hyperliquid’s original creators. Grayscale highlighted HIP-3 as a major step in this direction. HIP-3 allows builders to launch new perpetual markets, including non-crypto assets like stocks, commodities, and index-based products.
Grayscale said the volume data supports this view. During the silver price spike in February, silver HIP-3 perps reportedly reached over $4 billion in daily volume. On February 5, 2026, HIP-3 silver perp volume traded at about 1% of COMEX’s silver notional volume.
Building on this momentum, Grayscale pointed to HIP-4, which it described as extending the model to outcome markets—binary options that resemble prediction-market contracts.
Four Reasons Behind the Platform’s Growth
Alongside its product expansion, Grayscale said several factors have helped Hyperliquid stand out. The report emphasized product focus, arguing that Hyperliquid was built around the perpetuals trading use case, rather than treating trading as just one feature among many.
In Grayscale’s view, this allowed the platform to prioritize what active traders care about most: fast order entry, reliable execution, clear and readable positions, and an exchange-style interface that feels familiar.
The firm also highlighted distribution, arguing that the builder-code and frontend approach gives third parties a reason to route users into the same liquidity base, instead of splitting attention across different venues.
Grayscale added that the economics have already been significant. It cited Phantom’s integration of Hyperliquid perps through builder codes, noting that Phantom has earned roughly $19.7 million from routed trading fees.
Finally, Hyperliquid’s token distribution was designed to reward platform users rather than venture investors or pre-selected insiders, which Grayscale said helped build a different kind of early ownership.
Key Risks for HYPE
Even with the optimistic growth story, Grayscale ended by warning investors to consider both familiar crypto risks and some platform-specific concerns. It said HYPE’s annualized price volatility is about 80%, roughly 40 percentage points higher than Bitcoin.
Grayscale added that Hyperliquid’s growth potential partly depends on changes to U.S. financial services regulation, which could open access to a broader set of users.Grayscale warned that without these changes, the platform’s growth might be mostly limited to other countries, which could hold back its expansion. However, the report ended on a positive note, saying that if Hyperliquid keeps performing well, maintains and grows its community, and takes advantage of regulatory changes that allow wider use, it could become a “financial services powerhouse.” Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the topic of Grayscales latest report on Hyperliquid
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What is Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange built on its own custom blockchain It allows users to trade cryptocurrencies especially with leverage without a central authority
2 Why is Grayscales report on Hyperliquid important
Grayscale is a major investment firm When they publish a report on a project it signals that the project is gaining serious attention from big financial players which can increase its credibility and visibility
3 What did Grayscale say about Hyperliquids future
The report highlighted Hyperliquids high speed low fees and growing user base It suggested that if the platform can keep innovating and attracting traders it could become a major player in decentralized finance
4 Is Hyperliquid a good investment now
Grayscales report doesnt give direct investment advice It provides analysis Whether its a good investment depends on your own risk tolerance and research The report suggests potential but crypto is very volatile
5 How is Hyperliquid different from other exchanges like Binance or Uniswap
Unlike Binance Hyperliquid is decentralized Unlike Uniswap Hyperliquid uses an order book similar to traditional stock exchanges which can be faster and more familiar for experienced traders
AdvancedLevel Questions
6 What specific metrics from Hyperliquid did Grayscale highlight in the report
Grayscale noted Hyperliquids high trading volume its low latency and its unique vault system that lets users earn fees by providing liquidity
7 What are the main risks Grayscale pointed out about Hyperliquid
The report likely mentioned risks like regulatory uncertainty for decentralized exchanges potential smart contract bugs and competition from other highspeed chains Also Hyperliquid is still relatively new and less battletested
8 How does Hyperliquids custom blockchain give it an edge
By building its own chain Hyperliquid can optimize for trading This means faster order matching lower fees and the ability to handle highfrequency trading without congestion from