When the cryptocurrency market emerged more than a decade ago, its proponents framed it as “us versus them” — an insurgent fight against Wall Street and traditional markets.
Over time, with the emergence of popular traditional instruments such as cryptocurrency-related futures and ETFs, the vast divide slowly disappeared, and now the two worlds have merged on decentralized platforms.
Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Nasdaq-listed Hyperion DeFi, said the outperforming rally of decentralized exchange Hyperliquid’s HYPE token reflects this. It is the first US listed company to establish a long-term strategic library of HYPE tokens. As of the end of last year, it held more than 1.4 million HYPE tokens.
HYPE token surges over 30% to $33 this week, eclipsing Bitcoin Ether and other major coins lagging far behind. Bitcoin was up just 1.84%, while the broader market gauge, the CoinDesk 20 Index, was up more than 4%, according to CoinDesk data.
“This is a story of the convergence of all asset classes under the megatrend of tokenization in an increasingly financialized world – increasingly of which is happening with Hyperliquid,” Hyunsu said, explaining the HYPE rally.
While Hyperliquid began as a decentralized exchange for trading cryptocurrency-related perpetual futures, it has since expanded its product portfolio to include trading on stock indices, equities, commodities, and major fiat currency pairs.
This shift stems from the launch of Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal-3 (HIP-3) in October 2025, which allows anyone holding 500,000 HYPE tokens to freely create markets for non-crypto assets.
The timing couldn’t be better, as traditional assets, especially gold and silver, have gone crazy since late 2025, driving huge volumes and fees for these assets on the Hyperliquid market. In the past 24 hours alone, the silver-USDC market has seen over $1 billion in trading volume. Viewed on a broader scale, the numbers look even more impressive.
“In just 3 months since this upgrade, Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 market has captured over $1 billion in open interest, approximately $25 billion in total trading volume, and over $3 million in total fees, all transparently on-chain,” Hyunsu noted. “Users around the world are now able to access and trade stocks (such as those in countries without access to U.S. stocks) or participate in the incredible metals trades of the past few months.”
The surge in fees translates into higher prices for HYPE via the token burning mechanism. Hyperliquid destroys HYPE based on protocol fees through an automated mechanism, with up to 97% of fee income used to repurchase HYPE and remove tokens from circulation.
“This is a deflationary mechanism that is not found in any other blockchain ecosystem and is an incredible structural tailwind for our Treasury,” Hyunsu said.
He explained that the 24/7 availability of traditional markets on Hyperliquid allows traders to react to global events, helping to achieve fairer spot prices outside of normal hours and even on weekends when traditional markets are closed.
