“What it is translating to is actually implied volatility, so the price of options is near all-time lows,” Lim said. “People don’t think bitcoin and ether are going to move very much.”

Instead, traders have been moving into assets tied to emerging themes such as artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralized trading infrastructure.

“The altcoins are moving a lot,” Lim said. “That’s where the speculative money is going. It’s into things like HYPE and Zcash (ZEC) and Venice (VVV). AI-associated tokens are performing very well.”

Hyperliquid’s appeal extends beyond its token. Lim said hedge funds are increasingly using the platform’s derivatives products because they provide access to markets that are difficult or impossible to trade elsewhere.

“They’re very good at launching things early,” he said, pointing to Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO perpetual contracts tied to companies such as SpaceX. “We have hedge funds who there’s no other way to really trade that in a liquid way.”

The growing interest in Hyperliquid reflects a broader bet that crypto-native trading infrastructure can expand beyond digital assets. The platform generated about $800 million in revenue in 2025 and has steadily broadened its product lineup from crypto perpetual futures into tokenized stocks, commodities and prediction-style markets.

Grayscale has argued that Hyperliquid’s long-term significance may lie less in the HYPE token itself and more in its potential to serve as a 24/7 trading venue for a wide range of financial assets. Regulatory developments remain a key uncertainty, particularly because the platform currently restricts U.S. users, but supporters increasingly view Hyperliquid as a test case for how blockchain-based markets could compete with traditional exchanges in the future.

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