The epicenter of the crypto storm--Hyperliquid: No board of directors, no investors' "leverage tool"

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A decentralized exchange with only about 11 employees, no outside investors, and no board of directors is rapidly rising to become a crypto giant with a daily trading volume of over $13 billion, thanks to the anonymity and high leverage it offers traders.

This platform, called Hyperliquid, has achieved over $1 billion in annualized revenue while being fully self-funded. Its unique model and massive market influence are making it the latest center of controversy in the cryptocurrency space.

According to the latest report from The Information, during a recent crypto market crash, Hyperliquid became the focus for handling over $10 billion in forced liquidation trades. This event also brought this previously little-known exchange to public attention outside the crypto market.

What drew even more scrutiny was that just minutes before a major market fluctuation triggered by U.S. President Trump’s comments on tariffs, two user accounts on the Hyperliquid platform made large, precise short bets on the market. This “coincidence” immediately aroused intense speculation about possible insider information behind anonymous trades, highlighting the potential risks of the platform operating in a regulatory gray area.

Despite the controversy, Hyperliquid's growth momentum remains swift. Its trading volume has reached 10% of the comparable product on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. The platform, founded by Harvard graduate Jeff Yan, is attracting attention from both retail and institutional investors with its unique token economic model and disruptive ambitions toward traditional finance.

A Founder-Centric System Without a Board of Directors

The rise of Hyperliquid is closely linked to the technical background and personal vision of its founder, Jeff Yan. Growing up in Silicon Valley and graduating from Harvard University, Yan was a gold and silver medalist at the International Physics Olympiad and briefly worked at high-frequency trading firm Hudson River Trading in New York. The collapse of FTX prompted him to create Hyperliquid, a decentralized platform where users can self-custody their assets.

Those who know him say Jeff Yan is technically accomplished and ambitious. He has built a lean but efficient team around himself. Information on Hyperliquid’s website shows that most core members are anonymous or use pseudonyms, such as co-founder “iliensinc” and head of market strategy “Xulian”. Team members hail from top schools like Caltech and MIT, and have worked at well-known companies like Citadel and Airtable.

This structure grants Jeff Yan much autonomy. “He doesn’t have a board of directors, no investors calling him up and bossing him around,” said David Schamis, CEO-designate of Hyperliquid Strategies, a public company planning to hold Hyperliquid tokens. “That’s great, because he can be fully focused on the mission itself.”

HYPE Token: Rejecting VC, a Growth Engine With a $10 Billion Market Cap

Hyperliquid's most distinctive feature is its growth model. It has not followed the traditional startup path of seeking venture capital, instead rejecting investment interest from top VC firms like Paradigm and Founders Fund. Instead, the platform has chosen to become “self-reliant” by issuing its own HYPE token.

“When Hyperliquid was just starting out, the standard approach was to go through round after round of big VC funding to build buzz,” Jeff Yan said on the “Wu Blockchain” podcast in August. “But to me, that always felt a little fake, not real progress.”

Hyperliquid distributes 31% of its total token supply to users for free via “airdrop,” based on their trading volume, successfully attracting a large number of users. The platform also uses most of its trading fee revenue to buy back HYPE tokens from the market, reducing supply and pushing the price higher.

This strategy has achieved remarkable success: The price of HYPE tokens has skyrocketed from $3.90 at issuance last November to the current $38, with a circulating market cap of about $10 billion, making it one of the most successful token issuances in history. Reports indicate that now almost every well-known crypto fund, such as Paradigm, a16z, Pantera, and more, already holds HYPE tokens.

Leverage and Anonymity: The Eye of the Storm and Market Impact

Hyperliquid attracts traders with two core features: anonymity and high leverage. The majority of trading volume comes from perpetual contracts—a high-leverage derivative with no expiry date, which is unavailable on compliant U.S. platforms. Since Hyperliquid only provides trading software and is not a broker, it does not need to verify user identities.

It was this anonymity that caused a huge uproar during the market volatility on October 10. Minutes before Trump’s major tariff announcement caused market swings, two anonymous accounts placed precise short positions and earned enormous returns.

Matt Zhang, founder of crypto asset management firm Hivemind, pointed out: “Hyperliquid is benefiting from the fact that a large number of people want to trade anonymously.”

In the subsequent market crash, high leverage became the “accelerator” of the sell-off. According to CoinGlass data, the crypto industry experienced the largest liquidation in history that day, totaling at least $19 billion, with Hyperliquid alone forcibly liquidating over $10 billion in trades. While forced liquidation is a standard risk-control measure for exchanges to protect themselves, its sheer scale undoubtedly exacerbated market panic. Since Hyperliquid is unregulated globally, users have very limited recourse.

The “Everything Exchange”: Ambitions Beyond Crypto

Jeff Yan’s vision goes far beyond cryptocurrency. He wants Hyperliquid to “contain all finance,” allowing people to launch all kinds of investment products on its blockchain.

Alvin Hsia, co-founder of Ventuals, said this reflects their “vision of becoming the everything exchange.” In the future, users may not only be able to trade crypto perpetual contracts, but also public stocks, indices, private company equity, and even interest rates.

This vision seems to be steadily becoming a reality. A company called Trade.XYZ recently launched a stock index perpetual contract on Hyperliquid. At the same time, the platform is also beginning to attract attention from the traditional financial markets.

Risk DisclaimerThe market has risks, and investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute individual investment advice, nor does it take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of any particular user. Users should consider whether any views, opinions, or conclusions in this article are appropriate to their own circumstances. Investing based on this article is at your own risk. ```