Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said Hyperliquid is one of the most important crypto projects to emerge in years, arguing that investors are still underestimating both the platform’s impact and the value of its native HYPE token.
In his latest weekly memo, Hougan said HYPE is the best-performing large-cap crypto asset of 2026, rising near 77% year to date. He framed Hyperliquid as a fast-growing trading venue that is moving beyond crypto perps into a broader set of markets, including commodities, S&P 500 futures, pre-IPO stocks, prediction markets, and other non-crypto assets.
Hougan said Hyperliquid now does nearly half of its volume in non-crypto assets and expects that share to rise to 70% by the end of the year. He argued that this positions Hyperliquid closer to the financial super app model described by SEC Chair Paul Atkins, where investors can access several asset classes through a single platform.
The memo said Hyperliquid processed $170 billion in trading volume over the past month, driven by its push into markets larger than crypto. Hougan said the platform is not trying to become the next Binance, but instead is aiming to become one of the largest trading venues globally.
Hougan also pointed to HYPE as an example of what he called a second-generation crypto token. Unlike earlier DeFi governance tokens that had little economic connection to the platforms they represented, HYPE was designed to capture value from the start, with 99% of Hyperliquid trading fees used to buy back the token.
