Hyperliquid's Open Interest Hits Record High, Yet Revenue Declines for Four Consecutive Quarters: Where's the Money Going?
Hyperliquid, a derivatives trading platform, has seen its open interest (OI) for perpetual contracts surge to a record high of over $11 billion, capturing about 9% of the global perpetual OI. However, the protocol's revenue has declined for four consecutive quarters, falling 43% from its Q3 2025 peak to approximately $202 million in Q2 2026.
This revenue drop is largely attributed to Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal (HIP)-3, implemented in October 2025. This mechanism allows external developers who stake 500,000 HYPE (~$28 million) to deploy their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid and keep up to half of the trading fees. Markets created by these third parties, primarily offering real-world asset (RWA) perps like stocks and commodities, now account for nearly 50% of the platform's volume, up from just 2% earlier in 2026. Consequently, the share of fees distributed to developers, market makers, and the liquidity treasury has risen from 6% to 18% of total revenue year-over-year.
The RWA perpetual boom, dominated by a single entity (Trade.xyz with over 90% of HIP-3 OI), carries concentration and operational risks, as evidenced by a recent incident causing a 19% price crash in a SK Hynix contract. Lower platform revenue directly reduces the buyback and burn of the HYPE token, with repurchases nearly halving from $290 million in Q3 2025 to $149 million in Q2 2026. HYPE's price has fallen 28% from its June all-time high.
Additional pressures include significant monthly token unlocks for core contributors beginning in August, regulatory warnings from authorities in Singapore and the UK, potential CFTC scrutiny in the US, and emerging competition. While Hyperliquid remains a major revenue generator in crypto, its model of sharing fees with external builders is currently diminishing the earnings that support the HYPE token's value.
marsbit08/12 07:06
