At TOKEN2049 Singapore on October 7–8, 2026, CEO Jeff Yan presented Hyperliquid’s financial infrastructure as a way to rebuild market plumbing—not replace existing finance. His pitch centered on a public order book, a fee-funded token buyback system and a trading business in which traditional assets now account for one-third of volume.
Key takeaways
Hyperliquid runs its own blockchain for spot and perpetual futures trading.
The Assistance Fund directs approximately 97–99% of net fees toward HYPE repurchases.
Non-crypto assets represent one-third of the platform’s trading volume in 2026.
Speaking in a dedicated main-stage session at Marina Bay Sands, Yan described the platform as complementary to existing financial systems. He also said Hyperliquid has no direct competitors.
How Hyperliquid’s financial infrastructure works
Hyperliquid operates a custom Layer-1 blockchain with an on-chain Central Limit Order Book, or CLOB. It runs its own base network rather than building its trading system on another blockchain.
The order book pairs buyers and sellers, much as a traditional exchange’s matching engine does. The distinction is that every order and completed trade sits on a public ledger , making order matching transparent.
The platform supports both spot trading and perpetual futures. Perpetuals are derivatives without an expiry date: traders can maintain leveraged positions on an asset’s price while making funding payments.
That architecture underpins Yan’s argument for Hyperliquid as financial infrastructure. His presentation emphasized how orders, trades and fees move through the system, rather than framing the platform primarily as a rival to other crypto projects.
HYPE buybacks connect trading fees to token demand
Approximately 97–99% of net fees generated by Hyperliquid go toward buying HYPE through the Assistance Fund. The mechanism uses those fees to purchase the native token on the open market.
This creates a direct connection between trading activity and buyback demand. Higher trading volume supports purchases through the fund; changes in fee generation affect the amount available for repurchases. The mechanism links HYPE’s economics to use of the trading platform, rather than separating the token from the business generating those fees.
In mid-October 2026 , HYPE traded at approximately $80–81, with a market capitalization of around $18 billion . Those figures describe the period following the Singapore conference, not a current price.
According to reports, Hyperliquid generated a profit exceeding $900 million throughout 2025 , despite having a core team of only around 11 people. The combination of that profit figure and a small team points to high operating efficiency.
Traditional assets broaden the trading business
Non-crypto assets account for one-third of Hyperliquid’s total trading volume in 2026 . The platform’s activity therefore extends beyond trading digital assets.
Continued growth in traditional-asset trading would make revenue less dependent on crypto market cycles.
The mix also fits Yan’s complementary positioning: Hyperliquid offers on-chain access to traditional markets rather than presenting itself as a replacement for those markets. Its Singapore session covered plans for traditional-asset trading alongside the protocol’s growth metrics and the role of AI in finance.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
