Hyperliquid Revolutionizes DeFi with Composability and Shared Liquidity

The concept of liquidity begetting liquidity is a fundamental principle in the world of finance. Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, has emerged as a top choice for traders, particularly those interested in perpetual futures or 'perps,' which are blockchain-based derivatives contracts that allow users to speculate on asset prices with leverage and no expiration date. Founded by Harvard classmates Jeff Yan and iliensinc, Hyperliquid has been live since the beginning of 2023 and is capitalizing on its order book's volume and depth by providing firms with the ability to compose with its shared liquidity. This concept, known as composability, is a key aspect of decentralized finance (DeFi), where permissionless smart contracts can be combined like building blocks to create new tokenized financial products. Hyperliquid's Ethereum-compatible HyperEVM connects directly to its high-speed HyperCore blockchain, allowing other applications to build on top of the platform's shared liquidity rather than fragmenting it. As a result, applications like wallets or other exchanges can utilize Hyperliquid as a backend to offer perps trading and other services, leading to deeper liquidity, a broader range of assets, and compounding network effects. With hundreds of developers, including prominent names like MetaMask, Phantom wallet, and VALR, using Hyperliquid's 'builder codes,' the platform has generated significant revenue, with builders earning around $90 million so far. The growing adoption of Hyperliquid has led to a surge in praise from its users, with Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Hyperion DeFi, describing it as 'the AWS for finance.' Jung highlights that Hyperliquid is not just a perpetuals exchange but a layer-one blockchain infrastructure that provides liquidity and execution, allowing builders to focus on delivering a great user experience while Hyperliquid handles the backend. The use of builder codes enables integrators to charge fees on the notional size of their users' trades without having to develop or maintain the underlying infrastructure. This approach has been successful, with Sterling Barnett, business development lead at Hyperliquid Labs, noting that integrators can offer their users best-in-class on-chain liquidity and institutional-grade infrastructure while earning fees on every trade. The integration with MetaMask, a prominent Ethereum-based wallet with over 100 million users worldwide, is a prime example of Hyperliquid's composability. By fusing with Hyperliquid's EVM module, MetaMask has given its users self-custodial access to perps directly from the wallet, streamlining fund transfers and allowing users to trade with the tokens they already hold. According to Matthieu Saint Olive, Staff Product Manager at MetaMask, the integration has been successful, with MetaMask seeing growth beyond crypto into areas like commodities and equities. Saint Olive notes that '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, providing transparency and verifiability for traders. The adoption of Hyperliquid's perps order book by large centralized exchanges like VALR is also noteworthy. Despite having built their own infrastructure, including risk and liquidation engines, the team at VALR found it challenging to achieve significant volume and liquidity for their perpetual futures. By integrating with Hyperliquid, VALR has been able to tap into the platform's vast volume and market participants from around the world. Looking ahead, the increasing adoption of perps by major exchanges like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Intercontinental Exchange is expected to create opportunities for cross-venue arbitrage, according to Jung. As the DeFi landscape continues to evolve, Hyperliquid's composability and shared liquidity are poised to play a key role in shaping the future of finance.