According to (The Block): Hyperliquid, this decentralized perpetual swap trading platform, recently airdropped 310 million fully unlocked tokens to users trading on the platform and earning points, causing the price of its HYPE token to soar, with a market cap surpassing lending platform Aave.
According to data from (The Block), the platform claims to account for nearly half of all perpetual swap trading volume.
Since the Token Generation Event (TGE) last Friday, Hyperliquid's token has been on a continuous rise. During this event, the decentralized perpetual swap trading platform airdropped 310 million fully unlocked tokens to users trading on the platform, with users earning points from trading. This activity lasted for six months, ending in May.
These tokens were valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time, and now, at the current price of HYPE at $9.39, they are worth over $2.9 billion, giving the token a fully diluted valuation of $9.4 billion. According to (The Block)'s HYPE price page, the token has increased by over 10% in the past 24 hours.
HYPE's market capitalization is currently around $3.1 billion, surpassing lending platform Aave, privacy cryptocurrency Monero, Ethereum Layer 2 Optimism, and other well-known crypto projects.
Since October, Hyperliquid has for the first time climbed to a leading position in daily trading volume among decentralized perpetual swap platforms. Yesterday, according to data from (The Block), the platform accounted for nearly 47% of the trading volume across all such platforms. Meanwhile, its biggest competitor, Synfutures, saw a 30% drop in trading volume from Friday, November 29, to Saturday, November 30, while Hyperliquid's trading volume only fell by 10%.
HYPE plays a key role in the Hyperliquid ecosystem; this token can be staked to secure HyperBFT, an optimized proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that ensures network security and promotes decentralization. Additionally, HYPE is the native gas token for HyperEVM, helping to pay transaction fees.
Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan wrote on social media X on Saturday: "Hyperliquid's genesis token pays homage to the original spirit of Bitcoin: ownership belongs to believers and practitioners, not rent-seeking insiders. Hyperliquid is the evolution of finance. Hyperliquid can only be deemed successful when it encompasses all finance."
However, Hyperliquid has faced criticism from some crypto founders for its current closed-source nature. "How do you know these numbers, trading volumes, and total locked value are correct? Because their API self-reports?" wrote Peter Kris, founder and CEO of cross-chain exchange protocol Gasp, on social media X.
