The decentralized perpetual futures buying and selling sector has a brand new chief: Hyperliquid (HYPE). Launched in December 2024, Hyperliquid has its personal Layer-1 blockchain, which has surpassed Solana in 7-day charges.
What’s fueling its fast development, and the way does HYPE evaluate relative to Solana’s native token SOL (SOL)?
Protocols ranked by 7-day charges, USD. Supply: DefiLlama
Hyperliquid’s core providing is its perpetual futures DEX, which allows merchants to entry as much as 50x leverage on BTC, ETH, SOL, and different property. It includes a absolutely onchain order e book and 0 gasoline charges. In contrast to Solana, which helps a broad vary of decentralized functions (DApps), Hyperliquid’s layer-1 is purpose-built to optimize DeFi buying and selling effectivity.
Hyperliquid raises issues of centralization, however charges are piling up
Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, launched by way of an airdrop in November 2024, reaching 94,000 distinctive addresses. This distribution fueled a $2 billion market capitalization on day one, signaling sturdy group adoption. Nonetheless, critics like LawrenceChiu14 have raised issues concerning the stage of centralization on the Hyperliquid chain, stating that it controls 78% of the stake.
Supply: LawrenceChiu14
Hyperliquid generated $12.6 million in weekly charges, surpassing Solana ($11.8 million), Tron ($10.2 million), and Raydium ($9.8 million), based on DefiLlama. For comparability, Solana took over three years to achieve $12 million in charges (March 2024), whereas Raydium wanted 18 months.
Hyperliquid’s charge effectivity is notable, with simply $638 million in TVL—half of Raydium’s $1.25 billion and a fraction of Uniswap’s $4.22 billion. Uniswap, the highest DEX, earned $22.8 million in the identical interval, however its increased TVL underscores Hyperliquid’s superior margins.
One other level of rivalry is the reportedly centralized API and closed binary supply, in accordance to KamBenbrik. These points ought to be carefully examined earlier than figuring out HYPE’s long-term potential.
Hyperliquid has buybacks, however Solana gives a wider vary of DApps
A key differentiator is Hyperliquid’s charge construction: all charges are reinvested into the group, funding HYPE buybacks and liquidity incentives, based on its documentation. In distinction, Solana’s charges are distributed throughout its ecosystem, with protocols like Jupiter and Raydium every surpassing $10 million in weekly income. This makes direct comparisons to Solana’s base layer deceptive.
Hyperliquid’s $6.7 billion market cap—outpacing Uniswap ($4.7 billion) and Jupiter ($1.8 billion)—faces challenges forward. Token unlocks start in December 2025, doubtlessly pressuring HYPE’s worth. Moreover, 47 million HYPE tokens are set for distribution to core contributors within the first half of 2026, representing $940 million at present valuations.
Hyperliquid’s rise additionally pressures Solana, as a few of its high DEXs, together with Jupiter and Drift Protocol, provide derivatives buying and selling. Whereas Solana advantages from deep integration with main Web3 wallets like Phantom and Solflare, in addition to a various DApp ecosystem that includes yield aggregators and liquid staking, Hyperliquid’s HYPE buyback program helps offset these benefits.
For Solana, the actual problem isn’t simply Hyperliquid however the broader pattern of DeFi protocols launching their very own layer-1 blockchains. If this continues, demand for Solana’s scalability might weaken. SOL holders ought to carefully monitor Hyperliquid’s development and different rising chains like Berachain, which has already attracted $3.2 billion in deposits.
Within the close to future, Hyperliquid might face competitors from BERPS, a perpetual futures buying and selling platform on Berachain. Whereas BERPS at the moment handles lower than $3 million in each day quantity, it has already accrued $185 million in open curiosity, signaling rising curiosity from merchants.
At present, Hyperliquid’s $9 billion each day quantity stays unmatched within the DEX business. With its charge construction and buyback mechanism, it is going to be tough for opponents to empty liquidity by vampire assaults, therefore the bullish momentum for HYPE.
This text is for basic info functions and isn’t supposed to be and shouldn’t be taken as authorized or funding recommendation. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed listed below are the creator’s alone and don’t essentially replicate or symbolize the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
