Hyperliquid Revolutionizes DeFi with Composable Liquidity

The concept that liquidity breeds liquidity is particularly apt for Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that has become the go-to platform for traders seeking perpetual futures, also known as 'perps'. Founded by Harvard alumni Jeff Yan and a developer known as iliensinc, Hyperliquid has been live since early 2023. The platform has capitalized on the depth and volume of its order book by introducing a concept akin to composability, allowing permissionless smart contracts to interlock like building blocks of financial products in DeFi. Hyperliquid's Ethereum-compatible HyperEVM is directly connected to its high-speed, proprietary HyperCore blockchain. This setup enables other applications to leverage the platform's shared liquidity, rather than fragmenting it. As a result, applications such as wallets or even other exchanges can utilize Hyperliquid as a backend, offering perps trading and other services. The more builders integrate with Hyperliquid, the deeper the liquidity, the broader the range of assets, and the more pronounced the network effects. Currently, hundreds of developers, including prominent names like MetaMask, Phantom wallet, and the South African exchange VALR, are utilizing Hyperliquid's 'builder codes' system, generating approximately $90 million in revenue. Hyperion DeFi CEO Hansu Jian praises Hyperliquid, stating, 'It's not just a perpetuals exchange; it's more like the AWS for finance.' Jian highlights that the platform provides liquidity and execution, allowing builders to focus on delivering exceptional user experiences. Similar to AWS, builders maintain full control over their users and user interfaces, while Hyperliquid provides the underlying liquidity and execution. Integrators of builder codes can charge fees based on the notional size of their users' trades without needing to develop or maintain the backend or liquidity. The business development lead at Hyperliquid Labs, Sterling Barnett, notes that 'builder codes enable integrators to focus on what they do best – delivering great user experiences – while Hyperliquid serves as the backend for liquidity and execution.' For an application like MetaMask, integrating with Hyperliquid's EVM module is a natural fit. Since October 2025, MetaMask has provided users with self-custodial access to perps directly from the wallet. Matthieu Saint Olive, Staff Product Manager at MetaMask, explains that being a wallet offers advantages, such as streamlined fund transfers, allowing users to trade directly with the tokens they already hold. MetaMask's money account, social login, and follow trading features are all integrated with Hyperliquid, which handles matching, the oracle, and the margin engine. Saint Olive praises Hyperliquid's order-matching capabilities, stating, 'Matching orders is genuinely hard, and Hyperliquid is excellent at it.' By routing orders directly to the Hyperliquid order book, MetaMask Perps offers exceptional liquidity and execution quality. MetaMask is witnessing growth beyond crypto, with commodities and equities becoming increasingly popular. According to Saint Olive, 'real-world-asset markets have gone from a small slice of perp volume at the start of 2026 to roughly a quarter of it today.' In terms of fees, MetaMask charges a flat 0.1% builder fee, with no hidden spread or execution costs. Saint Olive emphasizes the importance of transparency, stating, 'We think that transparency is the real advantage, and we're actively exploring more innovative pricing models.' Even large centralized exchanges, such as South Africa-based VALR, are leveraging Hyperliquid's perps order book for liquidity. Despite initially building their own infrastructure, including risk and liquidation engines, VALR struggled to achieve sufficient volume and liquidity for their perpetual futures. VALR's CEO and co-founder, Farzam Ehsani, admits that the exchange's perpetual futures did not take off as expected due to liquidity and volume constraints. However, after discovering Hyperliquid, the team decided to integrate with the platform, tapping into its vast volume and market participants. Looking ahead, Hyperion's Jian anticipates opportunities for cross-venue arbitrage as major players like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Intercontinental Exchange enter the perps market. Jian explains that maintaining positions on multiple platforms, such as Robinhood and Hyperliquid, could enable users to capitalize on non-toxic flow and funding rates.