<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div><p>Tao Zhu, Jinse Finance</p><p><strong>Summary:</strong>On May 21, 2026, Hyperliquid's native token HYPE once again led the crypto market, with a 24-hour increase of 15.5%, reaching $57.72 as of press time. This is also the first time HYPE has broken through $50 since October 2025. This article analyzes the factors that have driven HYPE's renewed surge.</p><p><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469913_watermarknone.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="600" height="304" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469913_watermarknone.png"/></p><p>It is not difficult to see from this round of HYPE's rise that the market has realized that Hyperliquid is not just a decentralized exchange, but is evolving into an on-chain financial infrastructure.</p><p>From this round of HYPE's rise, it is not difficult to see that the market has realized that Hyperliquid is not just a decentralized exchange, but is evolving into an on-chain financial infrastructure.</p><p> HYPE's price surge is a product of multiple factors, including improved revenue, protocol buybacks, increased holdings by whales and institutions, ETF listing, cooperation opportunities, and new product launches. These factors may continue to drive HYPE to new price highs in the future. </p><h2>I. $1 Billion Annualized Revenue, 99% of Transaction Fees Used for HYPE Buyback</h2><p>On May 18th, Hyperliquid announced that RWA trading open interest on the Hyperliquid platform reached a new high of $2.6 billion, double that of two months ago. Market demand for 24/7 on-chain trading of real-world assets continues to grow.</p><p><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469567_watermarknone.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="475" height="429" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469567_watermarknone.png"/></p><p>In response, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan stated: The platform is undervalued, and its target is &#34;a global asset market worth $600 trillion. Hyperliquid is not a cryptocurrency application, but a super application.&#34;</p><p><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469596_watermarknone.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="482" height="572" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469596_watermarknone.png"/></p><p>Hougan estimates Hyperliquid...</p><p>Hougan estimates Hyperliquid...</p><p> With annualized revenue between $800 million and $1 billion, Hyperliquid's valuation multiple is approximately 10 to 14 times based on its buyback cash flow. This valuation is quite advantageous compared to traditional financial exchanges such as Robinhood and CME Group. Hyperliquid represents a new generation of crypto projects designed to directly accumulate value for token holders. Hougan points out that 99% of the platform's transaction fees are used to buy back HYPE tokens, further solidifying the direct link between platform user growth and token value. Bitwise research analyst Cam Khosravi wrote: Hyperliquid has quietly become a major fee provider in the cryptocurrency space, with year-to-date revenue reaching $255 million, exceeding the combined revenue of the second and third ranked platforms. </p><p><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469586_watermarknone.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="600" height="345" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7469586_watermarknone.png"/></p><p>It accounts for approximately one-third of the total revenue of the top ten protocols. Almost all of this revenue comes from perpetual contract transaction fees, with approximately 97% being returned to HYPE holders through automated open market buybacks. The platform currently accounts for 43% of all on-chain transaction fees, approximately $11 million per week. This is significantly better than Ethereum's 13% ($3 million per week) and Solana's 10% ($2 million per week).</p><p>It accounts for approximately one-third of the total revenue of the top ten protocols.</p><p> According to Tokenomics, HyperLiquid generated $1.3 billion in total revenue between December 2024 and May 2026 (512 days), of which $1.2 billion was net income. This $1.2 billion went to HYPE token holders. The token's primary uses include cybersecurity, staking rewards, staking privileges, fee discounts, tiered systems, gas tokens, service payments, and delegation. During the reporting period, its average daily total revenue was approximately $2.5 million. High revenue and high buybacks mean that as long as Hyperliquid's trading volume continues to grow, HYPE's buying interest will continue to strengthen. This has completely surpassed the upward logic of ordinary cryptocurrencies. In the current market, this model of real revenue and real buybacks is becoming the core reason for the repricing of HYPE. II. Whales and Institutions Continue to Increase Holdings On May 18, it was reported that Lookonchain's on-chain wallet, associated with venture capital firm a16z, has quietly accumulated 2.11 million HYPE tokens since April 14, worth approximately $90.87 million. According to on-chain analyst Ai (@ai_9684xtpa), a16z (@a16zcrypto) may have become the sixth largest holder of HYPE, and may be the largest external holding institution with the top five being Hype's own ecosystem. Data shows that a16z began a large-scale accumulation phase in August 2025, accumulating 9.18 million HYPE tokens (approximately $356 million), with an average selling price of $38.77. After deducting the portion transferred to exchanges and market makers, 8.844 million HYPE tokens remain, dispersed across dozens of addresses. Going back further, in late April, the &#34;largest long position holder on Hyperliquid&#34; opened a long position of 99,000 ETH at a price of $2,270, subsequently adding to the position twice in small increments, bringing the total long position to 114,000 ETH. On April 10th, on-chain trackers discovered a new wallet (0x96eb…) depositing 5 million USDC into Hyperliquid and immediately using these funds to purchase 59,239 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $2.39 million. AMBCrypto's analysis points out that the wallet bought in near $40 and quickly profited after HYPE's price broke through that level, indicating that this purchase was a well-thought-out accumulation strategy rather than a speculative move. For HYPE, a token with a relatively limited circulating supply, such a large single-day purchase would have a significant impact on the order book, especially if other participants already held bullish positions and tended to follow large inflows rather than trade against the trend. This buying activity by whales and institutions is a crucial indicator of HYPE's price movement because HYPE's current circulating supply is not large, and the protocol itself is constantly buying back and burning tokens. Therefore, as institutions continue to buy, whales lock up their tokens for extended periods, and the protocol continues to buy back tokens, the amount of HYPE available in the market will decrease, eventually leading to a surge in HYPE's price. </p><h2>III. Listing of the “HYPE” ETF</h2><p>On May 12, 21shares launched the 21shares Hyperliquid ETF (NASDAQ: THYP), providing US investors with spot exposure to HYPE and offering staking rewards. The ETF saw $1.8 million in trading volume and $1.2 million in net inflows on its first day of trading.</p><p>Bitwise’s BHYP ETF officially listed and began trading on the NYSE on May 15. BHYP offers more than just passive investment opportunities. Bitwise also committed 10% of its BHYP management fees to purchasing HYPE tokens and adding them to its balance sheet, which are then staked. This effectively transforms the inflows from the ETF into structural buying pressure on HYPE tokens.</p><p> For example, after Bitwise announced it would include HYPE on its balance sheet and use a portion of its BHYP management fees to accumulate HYPE tokens, HYPE surged over 4% within 24 hours, approaching the $50 mark, consistent with Hyperliquid's own buyback model. This also means that the larger the ETF size, the stronger the long-term buying pressure on HYPE. Furthermore, according to Farside data, the spot HYPE ETF saw a net inflow of $25.5 million on Wednesday, far exceeding Tuesday's $11 million and Monday's $4.4 million. Since its launch, this type of ETF has seen a cumulative net inflow of $54 million over the past seven trading days. HYPE's valuation logic has been completely altered by its move towards traditional finance. </p><h2>IV. Hyperliquid Shifts to Coinbase and USDC</h2><p>On May 14th, Hyperliquid announced an agreement that will change its ecosystem landscape: Coinbase will become the official treasury deployer of USDC on Hyperliquid, with Circle responsible for the technical infrastructure.</p><p>The AQAv2 framework ends the liquidity gap between USDH and USDC, redirecting reserve yields back to the Hyperliquid protocol for HYPE holder returns, protocol buybacks, and ecosystem funds—while enjoying the yields generated by a larger supply base than USDH. In other words, Hyperliquid relinquishes some control over stablecoins but gains a deeper alignment of interests with USDC.</p><p>Under the AQAv2 framework, Coinbase will share the vast majority of reserve yields generated by Hyperliquid USDC balances with the protocol itself. This represents a significant shift in stablecoin economics and may force other exchanges and the DeFi ecosystem to negotiate similar yield-sharing agreements.</p><p>Under the AQAv2 framework, Coinbase will share the vast majority of reserve yields generated by Hyperliquid USDC balances with the protocol itself. This represents a major shift in stablecoin economics and may force other exchanges and the DeFi ecosystem to negotiate similar yield-sharing agreements.</p><p> For details, please see &#34;From Confrontation to Symbiosis: Why Hyperliquid Abandoned USDH and Turned to Coinbase and USDC&#34;<br/></p><h2>V. Pre-IPO and Tokenization of Everything</h2><p>On May 17, Trade.xyz purchased SPCX code on HIP-3, and on May 18, officially launched SpaceX's Pre-IPO perpetual contract.</p><p> For details, please see &#34;After Cerebras, SpaceX: Understanding Trade.xyz, the Igniter of Pre-IPO Contracts&#34; The launch of SPCX has once again garnered Hyperliquid significant attention: this model bypasses the traditional securities system, allowing users to trade price expectations without actually holding SpaceX equity. The market generally believes that the Pre-IPO model may become Hyperliquid's most imaginative new growth point. Hyperliquid's hot topics aren't limited to cryptocurrency trading pairs; they also include crude oil, silver, and the S&amp;P 500 index. In October 2025, Hyperliquid underwent a significant HIP-3 upgrade: allowing anyone to stake 500,000 HYPE to deploy their own permissionless perpetual contract market on Hyperliquid. Traders can now go long or short on crude oil, gold, silver, and index futures, with all trades settled on-chain and available 24/7. </p><p>Recalling the dramatic volatility during the Strait of Hormuz crisis in early March, WTI crude oil perpetual contracts saw trading volumes exceeding $5 billion in 72 hours. On some weekend days, crude oil trading volumes even surpassed $1.4 billion. Silver perpetual contracts saw peak daily trading volumes of $4.67 billion on weekdays.</p><p>Andri Fauzan Adziima, Head of Research at Bitrue Research Institute, believes that HYPE's outstanding performance is attributable to tokenization factors, including the S&amp;P 500 index, oil, and commodities, which have seen significant growth against the backdrop of geopolitical turmoil in recent weeks. “This TradFi rotation and permissionless market creation provides HYPE with its own independent demand engine.” Matthew Pinnock, COO of Altura DeFi, stated that HYPE's pricing is more like “high-growth financial infrastructure,” and the exchange “absorbed trading volume from perpetual contracts, commodities, stocks, and the broader tokenized macro market at a rate the market had never anticipated.” VI. What is the future of HYPE? BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes believes that HYPE is getting closer to a new all-time high, and the target of $150 is closer than before. Adziima, Head of Research at Bitrue Research Institute, believes that this momentum will continue, and driven by “RWA's upward momentum and ETF inflows,” the token price will reach $55-65. His long-term vision is for Hyperliquid to become a &#34;decentralized super app&#34; for global assets, with &#34;billions of dollars in annual revenue potential.&#34; Syncracy Capital co-founder Daniel Cheung believes: &#34;I think people are still seriously underestimating HYPE's upside potential. Currently, HYPE's circulating market capitalization is only about $13 billion, while most other crypto exchanges have market capitalizations close to $80 billion, and TradeFi's is even higher, so HYPE's valuation still seems very low.&#34; On Reddit, some argue that if Hyperliquid eventually becomes a mainstream on-chain financial trading platform and truly captures a portion of the traditional derivatives market share, then HYPE's long-term market capitalization could reach the &#34;hundreds of billions of dollars&#34; level. This corresponds to a price of $200 in the medium term and over $1000 in the long term.</p></div></div></div>

COIN

ETHE

GBTC

<p>Hyperliquid's native token HYPE surged 15.5% to $57.72, marking its first breach of $50 since October 2025. Factors driving this increase include improved revenue, protocol buybacks, and increased institutional holdings. Hyperliquid reported annualized revenue between $800 million and $1 billion, with 99% of transaction fees used for HYPE buybacks. Notably, venture capital firm a16z has accumulated significant HYPE tokens, indicating strong institutional interest. This combination of real revenue and buybacks is reshaping HYPE's market valuation.</p>

- On May 21, 2026, Hyperliquid's token HYPE increased by 15.5%, reaching $57.72, driven by factors including improved revenue, protocol buybacks, and institutional investments.  
- Hyperliquid's annualized revenue is projected to be $800 million to $1 billion, largely used for HYPE buybacks, enhancing token value as institutions accumulate HYPE tokens and the platform shifts to offer more traditional financial products.  
- Recent ETF listings and strategic partnerships with Coinbase are further positioning Hyperliquid as a significant player in both crypto and traditional financial markets, suggesting potential for HYPE to reach higher valuations.

HYPE surges 15% - Why is the market repricing Hyperliquid?