Hyperliquid Revolutionizes Crypto Perpetuals with DeFi's Modular Approach

The concept that liquidity breeds liquidity is particularly relevant in the context of Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that has gained popularity among traders, especially those interested in perpetual futures or 'perps.' These blockchain-based derivatives contracts allow users to speculate on asset prices with leverage and no expiration date. Founded by Harvard classmates Jeff Yan and the pseudonymous iliensinc, Hyperliquid launched in 2023 and has capitalized on the depth and volume of its order book by introducing a concept akin to composability. This DeFi concept allows permissionless smart contracts to integrate seamlessly, much like financial building blocks. Hyperliquid's Ethereum-compatible HyperEVM is directly connected to its high-speed, homegrown HyperCore blockchain, allowing other applications to utilize the platform's shared liquidity without fragmenting it. This means that applications such as wallets or even other exchanges can leverage Hyperliquid as a backend to offer perps trading and other services. As more developers integrate with Hyperliquid, the platform's liquidity deepens, the variety of assets expands, and network effects intensify. Currently, hundreds of developers, including prominent names like MetaMask and Phantom wallet, utilize Hyperliquid's 'builder codes,' generating approximately $90 million in revenue. The platform has garnered significant praise from its growing user base. 'Hyperliquid is more than just a perpetuals exchange; it's akin to the AWS for finance,' stated Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Hyperion DeFi. 'The perps aspect is notable, but this is essentially a layer-one blockchain infrastructure providing liquidity and allowing anyone to build on top of it.' Similar to AWS, builders on Hyperliquid own their users and have full control over the user interface, while the platform provides underlying liquidity and execution. Integrators of builder codes can charge fees based on the notional size of their users' trades without developing the backend or maintaining liquidity. 'Builder codes enable integrators to focus on delivering exceptional user experiences while Hyperliquid handles the backend for liquidity and execution,' said Sterling Barnett, business development lead at Hyperliquid Labs. 'Integrators can offer their users top-notch on-chain liquidity and institutional-grade infrastructure while earning fees on every trade.' For an application like MetaMask, which boasts over 100 million users worldwide, integrating with Hyperliquid's EVM module makes perfect sense. Since October 2025, MetaMask has provided users with self-custodial access to perps directly from the wallet. As a wallet, MetaMask has the advantage of not requiring a decentralized app connection, and fund transfers are streamlined, allowing users to trade directly with the tokens they already hold. 'Matching orders is genuinely challenging, and Hyperliquid excels at it, so we don't attempt to rebuild it,' said Matthieu Saint Olive, Staff Product Manager at MetaMask. 'By routing orders directly to the Hyperliquid order book, MetaMask Perps offers some of the best liquidity and execution quality available.' MetaMask is witnessing growth beyond crypto, with commodities and equities becoming increasingly popular. 'Real-world-asset markets have grown from a small fraction of perp volume at the start of 2026 to roughly a quarter of it today,' Saint Olive noted. In terms of fees, MetaMask charges a flat 0.1% builder fee, with no hidden spread or execution costs, allowing traders to verify exactly what they paid. It's more surprising to see a large centralized exchange, like South Africa-based VALR, rely on Hyperliquid's perps order book for liquidity. However, this move has proven beneficial for VALR, which is among the largest exchanges in Africa, with nearly two million retail customers and about 2,000 corporate institutional customers. After initially building in-house infrastructure for spot market, spot margin, and perpetuals, the team at VALR found it challenging to achieve sufficient volume and liquidity. 'Our volume is our volume; we are truthful and transparent and don't engage in wash trading or similar practices,' said Farzam Ehsani, CEO and co-founder of VALR. 'We saw Hyperliquid bringing a huge amount of volume and market participants from all over the world together and thought, 'Why not plug into that?'' Looking ahead, as major players like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Intercontinental Exchange expand their perps offerings, there will be opportunities for cross-venue arbitrage, according to Jung. 'Imagine maintaining one position on Robinhood and the other side of the position on Hyperliquid,' Jung said. 'With a significant amount of non-toxic flow from retail users entering and exiting the market, you'll be able to see more organic mechanisms for funding rates.'