Bitwise: Hyperliquid Targets $600 Trillion Asset Market

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan argued that Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, should be valued against a $600 trillion global asset market rather than the roughly $3 trillion crypto market. He made the remarks during a Friday interview with podcast host Nate Geraci. Bitwise’s BHYP spot ETF, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has gathered nearly $60 million in inflows since its mid-May debut.

Hyperliquid runs a perpetual futures platform that allows traders to hold ongoing positions in a range of assets. Hougan described HYPE as a next-generation exchange instrument and highlighted the platform’s tokenomics, which route the bulk of trading fees into token buybacks. “I think it’s going to take investors a while to realize that this is a Gen 2 token,” he remarked.

Hougan framed the platform as a financial application that uses crypto infrastructure to provide access to traditional markets. He pointed out that non-crypto instruments, including S&P 500 perpetuals and oil futures, already make up about half of perpetuals volume on Hyperliquid and said he expects non-crypto volume to rise and could exceed 90% over time. Market data showed HYPE trading near $68 on Saturday, roughly 10% higher over 24 hours.

Hougan identified several risks for Hyperliquid, noting established operators and new competitors are likely to challenge the platform. He named the New York Stock Exchange, CME Group and decentralized finance protocols as potential rivals and acknowledged execution risk. He also noted that U.S. retail investors cannot trade directly on Hyperliquid’s offshore exchange.

Bitwise’s BHYP ETF stakes about 70% of its holdings using the firm’s infrastructure and the firm allocates roughly 10% of management fees to HYPE tokens held on its balance sheet. Hougan described the ETF’s debut as the strongest single-asset crypto exchange-traded product launch since Bitcoin and cited early inflows as evidence of investor interest in the strategy.

Exchange tokens historically offered fee discounts and revenue-sharing features. Hyperliquid’s model emphasizes buybacks funded by trading fees to return value to token holders and to differentiate its tokenomics from earlier exchange tokens.