Hyperliquid
Decentralized perpetual futures exchange and Layer-1 blockchain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for perpetual futures and spot trading, built on a custom layer-1 blockchain of the same name. It was co-founded in 2022 by Jeff Yan and a pseudonymous developer known as iliensinc, and launched publicly in 2023. Hyperliquid operates an on-chain order book, and its native token HYPE was distributed via airdrop in November 2024.
| Company type | Decentralized exchange |
|---|---|
| Industry | Decentralized finance, Cryptocurrency |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Founders | Jeff Yan, iliensinc |
| Products | Perpetual futures DEX, HyperEVM, HYPE token |
History
Jeff Yan studied mathematics and computer science at Harvard University, subsequently working as a high-frequency trading engineer at Hudson River Trading and briefly at Google before founding Chameleon Trading, a cryptocurrency market-making firm, around 2020.[1]
The collapse of FTX in late 2022 motivated Yan to build a decentralized alternative to centralized exchanges.[citation needed] Hyperliquid was co-founded by Yan and iliensinc in 2022 and launched in a closed alpha in February 2023. The exchange was entirely self-funded, with no external venture capital investment; as of August 2025, the team comprised eleven people.[2]
HYPE token
On 29 November 2024, Hyperliquid distributed its native governance and utility token, HYPE, via airdrop to over 90,000 eligible users.[3] Approximately 31% of the total token supply was allocated to the airdrop; no tokens were reserved for venture capital investors or early institutional backers, a structure that attracted broad attention within the decentralized finance community.[citation needed] The airdrop was valued at approximately $1.2–1.6 billion at the time of distribution, making it one of the largest token airdrops in the history of decentralized finance.[4]
Growth
By August 2025, Hyperliquid was processing approximately $30 billion in daily trading volume and held $2.2 billion in total value locked (TVL), positioning it among the largest decentralized finance protocols by activity.[citation needed] The platform reached a peak market share of approximately 72% of all decentralized perpetual futures trading volume in May 2025.[5]
Controversies
North Korea allegations
In December 2024, Taylor Monahan, a security researcher at MetaMask, publicly reported that on-chain addresses linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group had been trading on Hyperliquid, suggesting the platform may have been used for reconnaissance ahead of a potential exploit.[6][7] Hyperliquid denied that any exploit had occurred. The reports prompted over $250 million in single-day net outflows from the platform.