Hyperliquid co-founder and CEO Jeff Yan said traditional Wall Street wealth-creation opportunities remain out of reach for many retail investors because the largest gains often occur before assets become available on public exchanges.
Speaking at Token2049 Singapore, Yan argued that private access to assets during their early growth leaves the broader investing public able to participate only after much of that expansion has already taken place. According to Cointelegraph, he described the arrangement as a consequence of the wider economy but said the model was not sustainable.
Hyperliquid’s case for broader access
Yan presented Hyperliquid’s decentralized exchange and its blockchain-based perpetual contracts as a way to expand participation in financial markets. Perpetual contracts are derivatives that can remain open without a fixed expiry date, allowing traders to maintain positions without having to close or roll them because a contract has matured.
He said Hyperliquid’s mission is financial openness and increased participation, rather than maximizing revenue directly. In his view, the platform’s income is a result of providing value to users and widening access to wealth-creation opportunities.
Yan also attributed part of Hyperliquid’s success to the design of its perpetual futures contracts. Because they do not expire, he said, traders face fewer decisions and liquidity is less fragmented across contracts with different maturity dates. Liquidity refers to the ability to buy or sell an asset without causing a significant change in its price.
Revenue and growing interest from traditional finance
Hyperliquid’s model has made it one of the most significant revenue-generating protocols in decentralized finance. DefiLlama data cited in the report ranked it third among DeFi protocols by revenue over the previous 30 days, with $72 million generated during that period.
The platform’s growth has also attracted attention from established financial institutions. Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has called on regulators to establish equal conditions for the development of 24-hour, seven-day-a-week onchain perpetual futures markets.
In March, the NYSE partnered with tokenization platform Securitize as part of efforts to develop blockchain-based infrastructure for stock trading, including continuous trading and settlement. The developments reflect growing interest in applying blockchain technology to markets that traditionally operate within set trading hours.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data at 09:19 on October 8, 2026, showed Hyperliquid’s HYPE token at $86.7503213041, down 3.94% over 24 hours and 2.70% over seven days.
Other listed cryptoassets showed mixed performance:
- Uniswap (UNI): $7.7713421493, down 3.82% in 24 hours and 13.45% in seven days.
- OriginTrail (TRAC): $0.4006036923, down 0.88% in 24 hours and 15.12% in seven days.
- ORDI: $4.407817004, up 3.61% in 24 hours but down 4.90% over seven days.
The market figures describe recent token price movements and do not measure Hyperliquid’s protocol revenue or the adoption of its perpetual contracts.
