Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid is a decentralized perpetual futures exchange running on its own layer-1 blockchain, and HYPE is its native token, airdropped on 29 November 2024.[1][2] Its listings of memecoin perpetuals, including Popcat and Fartcoin, made it a venue for leveraged memecoin trading and for several manipulation incidents.[3][4]
History[edit]
Jeff Yan started the project as a market-making firm in 2020; a closed mainnet alpha went live in February 2023 and full mainnet that August.[1] Yan said the team of 11 was entirely self-funded and refused venture capital.[1] By November 2024 it had over 220,000 users and about $2.4 billion in daily volume.[5]
HYPE token[edit]
HYPE has a supply of 1 billion; 31% (310 million) was airdropped at 07:30 UTC on 29 November 2024 to users who earned points in a campaign ending in May, at five tokens per point, and 23.8% went to core contributors under a one-year lock.[5][2] It traded near $4.2 on day one for a fully diluted value of about $4.2 billion, with more than $250 million in volume.[2] DL News reported more than $1 billion in tokens distributed and framed the airdrop as a possible rotation away from memecoins after the post-election memecoin rally.[6] HYPE secures the HyperBFT proof-of-stake consensus and pays gas on HyperEVM.[2]
Role in trenching[edit]
Solana trading platforms such as Axiom route perpetual futures to Hyperliquid, letting memecoin traders in the trenches take leveraged positions from the same terminal.[7] Losses that traders' collateral cannot cover fall on HLP, Hyperliquid's community-owned liquidity vault.[4]
Notable events[edit]
- JELLYJELLY (March 2025): a trader shorted the Solana memecoin JELLYJELLY while a whale sold it on DEXs, HLP inherited the short and showed about $12 million in unrealized losses; validators delisted the market citing "suspicious market activity" and the Hyper Foundation pledged compensation for unflagged users.[3] Binance and OKX listed JELLYJELLY perpetuals within about an hour.[3]
- POPCAT (November 2025): Lookonchain said a trader withdrew $3 million from OKX, split it across 19 wallets, built a POPCAT long of $20 to 30 million, then pulled a $20 million buy wall near $0.21; the cascading liquidations left HLP about $4.9 million in bad debt.[4]
- Fartcoin (April 2026): a trader holding about 145 million FARTCOIN across wallets lost about $3 million when the position was liquidated in thin liquidity, triggering auto-deleveraging; PeckShield said HLP was down about $1.5 million over 24 hours.[8]
Timeline[edit]
- 2023-02: closed mainnet alpha[1]
- 2024-11-29: HYPE genesis and airdrop[5][2]
- 2025-03-26: JELLYJELLY perpetuals delisted[3]
- 2025-11-12: POPCAT manipulation leaves HLP with $4.9 million bad debt[4]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ What Is Hyperliquid? The Decentralized Exchange With Its Own Blockchain, Decrypt, 2026-06-17
- ^ Hyperliquid airdrops over $1.2 billion worth of tokens to users as HYPE crosses $4 billion FDV, The Block, 2024-11-29
- ^ Hyperliquid delists JELLYJELLY memecoin amid whale manipulation fiasco, The Block, 2025-03-26
- ^ Alleged POPCAT Manipulation Hits Hyperliquid with $4.9M Loss: Blockchain Analyst, CoinDesk, 2025-11-13
- ^ Crypto Exchange HyperLiquid Announces Native Asset HYPE, Users to Receive 310M Tokens, CoinDesk, 2024-11-28
- ^ 'Say Goodbye to memes' as DeFi exchange Hyperliquid mints wave of new crypto millionaires, DL News, 2024-11-29
- ^ Axiom exchange hits $100 million in revenue just four months after launch, The Block, 2025-05-25
- ^ Trader's $3M Fartcoin Bet Unravels, Triggering Hyperliquid ADL, Cointelegraph, 2026-04-09