No Fundraising, No Real Estate Purchases, No Acknowledgment as an Exchange: The Restraint and Expansion of Hype

Hyperliquid, the fast-growing crypto trading platform founded by 31-year-old Jeff Yan, generated $713 million in revenue over the past 12 months and now sees real-world asset trading rivaling its crypto volumes, with July RWA turnover exceeding $115 billion. Yan, who bootstrapped the company without venture funding and operates its development entity from Singapore, insists Hyperliquid is not an exchange but a "neutral infrastructure layer," a distinction central to its US strategy of having HIP-3 partner operators—such as Trade.xyz, which has processed hundreds of billions in volume across stock, gold, and oil perps—handle US compliance rather than the platform itself. The HIP-3 upgrade lets anyone stake 500,000 HYPE (roughly $43 million) to launch new markets, and Kraken's parent company began talks in September to integrate the system for US users. HYPE has roughly doubled this year even as most tokens declined, with core contributors holding at least 238 million HYPE worth about $20 billion. The platform's growth has drawn scrutiny from CME Group and ICE, which have pressed US regulators to act, while the White House is reportedly studying a framework for perps regulation. Watch for the outcome of Hyperliquid Policy Center's lobbying in Washington and whether HIP-3 partners secure US market access.