Hyperliquid Revolutionizes DeFi with Composable Perpetual Futures

The concept that liquidity breeds liquidity is being put to the test by Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange that has become a go-to platform for traders seeking to engage with perpetual futures, also known as 'perps'. Launched in 2023 by Harvard alumni Jeff Yan and iliensinc, a pseudonymous developer, Hyperliquid is harnessing the power of its order book to introduce a novel concept: composability. This DeFi principle allows permissionless smart contracts to interlock seamlessly, much like LEGO blocks, giving rise to innovative tokenized financial products. Hyperliquid's Ethereum-compatible HyperEVM is directly connected to its high-performance HyperCore blockchain, allowing other applications to build upon the platform's shared liquidity. This means that wallets and exchanges can integrate Hyperliquid as a backend, providing perps trading and other services without having to fragment liquidity. As more developers integrate with Hyperliquid, the platform's liquidity deepens, and the variety of assets expands, creating a self-reinforcing cycle. Hundreds of developers, including prominent names like MetaMask and VALR, are now utilizing 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 AWS for finance,' said Hyunsu Jung, CEO of Hyperion DeFi. 'The true value lies in its layer-one blockchain infrastructure, providing liquidity and execution capabilities, allowing builders to focus on delivering exceptional user experiences.' Similar to AWS, builders maintain control over their user interface and own their users, while Hyperliquid provides the underlying liquidity and execution. This enables integrators to charge fees on the notional size of their users' trades without needing to develop and maintain the backend or liquidity. 'Builder codes allow integrators to focus on what they do best – delivering great user experiences – while Hyperliquid handles the backend for liquidity and execution,' said Sterling Barnett, business development lead at Hyperliquid Labs. 'This enables integrators to offer their users best-in-class on-chain liquidity and institutional-grade infrastructure, while earning fees on every trade.' For a wallet like MetaMask, integrating with Hyperliquid's EVM module makes perfect sense. Since October 2025, MetaMask has provided its users with self-custodial access to perps directly from the wallet. As a wallet, MetaMask has the advantage of streamlined fund transfers, allowing users to trade directly with the tokens they already hold. 'We don't try to rebuild what Hyperliquid is excellent at – matching orders,' said Matthieu Saint Olive, Staff Product Manager at MetaMask. 'By routing orders straight to the Hyperliquid order book, MetaMask Perps offers some of the best liquidity and execution quality available.' MetaMask is witnessing growth beyond crypto, with real-world asset markets now accounting for roughly a quarter of perp volume. The wallet charges a flat 0.1% builder fee, with no hidden spread or execution costs, ensuring transparency for traders. Even large centralized exchanges like VALR are leveraging Hyperliquid's perps order book. Despite having built their own infrastructure, including risk and liquidation engines, the team at VALR found it challenging to achieve sufficient volume and liquidity for their perpetual futures. 'Instead of competing, we decided to plug into Hyperliquid's vast volume and market participants from around the world,' said Farzam Ehsani, CEO and co-founder of VALR. 'This has proven to be a wise decision, as we can now offer our customers access to a more liquid and diverse market.' As the likes of Robinhood, Coinbase, and Intercontinental Exchange prepare to enter the perps market, opportunities for cross-venue arbitrage will arise, according to Jung. 'With non-toxic flow from retail users, we'll see more organic mechanisms for funding rates emerge, creating a more efficient and interconnected market.'