Hot Tokens Learning Week 19: RWA and Infrastructure Stay in Focus; Pump Platform's Daily Trading Volume Returns to Recent Highs

Overview

1、In mid-July 2026, Tether minted approximately $946 million worth of XAUT on Ethereum, equivalent to nearly six tons of physical gold.

2、In H1 2026, HYPE recorded $1.34 trillion in cumulative trading volume and generated over $320 million in revenue. Total revenue surpassed $1 billion, supporting ongoing token buybacks.

3、The pump.fun platform’s daily trading volume has returned to elevated levels, generating millions of dollars in weekly revenue and powering PUMP buybacks.

4、In July 2026, Ondo launched Flow and other products, supporting perpetual contracts collateralized by tokenized stocks and logging $100 million in first-day trading volume.

5、Recently, Robinhood Chain adopted Chainlink as its official oracle and CCIP provider.

XAUT

Project Overview

XAUT is a tokenized physical gold asset introduced by Tether in 2020 under the name Tether Gold (XAUT). By integrating traditional gold with blockchain technology, XAUT enables users to own, transfer, and trade physical gold as easily as they would trade cryptocurrencies. XAUT is fully backed 1:1 by physical gold. XAUT tokens are dynamically minted and burned to ensure that each XAUT token represents one fine troy ounce of gold, corresponding to a physical gold bar that meets the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Good Delivery standard, with a minimum purity of 99.99%.

Market Updates

Recently, with the reignition of the U.S.-Iran conflict, gold has once again drawn strong market attention. In mid-July 2026, Tether minted approximately $946 million worth of XAUT on Ethereum — equivalent to nearly six tons of physical gold — signaling robust investor demand for gold-backed assets. Overall, amid the broader Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization boom, XAUT, as a premier commodity-backed token, is benefiting from safe-haven gold demand and institutional interest. It may appeal to users seeking gold exposure while preferring on-chain convenience.

HYPE

Project Overview

HYPE is the native token of Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange (DEX) focused on derivatives trading, particularly perpetual futures. Operating on a proprietary Layer-1 blockchain, Hyperliquid uses a fully on-chain central limit order book (CLOB) to achieve sub-second execution speeds and high throughput (up to hundreds of thousands of orders per second). It offers execution speeds comparable to centralized exchanges while preserving the transparency and self-custodial nature of DeFi.

Market Updates & On-Chain Data

In the first half of 2026, Hyperliquid recorded $1.34 trillion in cumulative trading volume, generated over $320 million in revenue, and saw TVL repeatedly exceed $5 billion. Cumulative revenue exceeded $1 billion, driving ongoing token buybacks.

Spot HYPE ETFs were launched by Bitwise, 21Shares, Grayscale, and others, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in net inflows. Bitwise also integrated HYPE into its BITW index fund.

Governance proposals such as HIP-3 drove the trading of RWA products like stock perpetuals, pushing Open Interest (OI) to all-time highs. Key partnerships were forged with Skew Technologies, alongside integrations with wallets like Phantom.

Community Views

Positives: The community emphasizes "Utility over Hype," highlighting the buyback mechanism, ETF inflows, absence of VC backing, and market volume dominance. Many view HYPE as a leading Layer-1/DEX flagship with high long-term price targets (some forecasting $100+).

Risk Reminder: Market concerns include team unlock pressure, macroeconomic volatility, and competitive dynamics. However, many community members believe that its fundamentals are strong enough to withstand short-term selling pressure.

Overall, the community is broadly bullish on HYPE, regarding it as one of the few DeFi projects backed by "real cash flow" rather than pure narrative. Community members prioritize long-term holding and protocol growth over short-term meme speculation.

PUMP

Project Overview

PUMP is the native token of pump.fun, the leading one-click meme coin launchpad on Solana that allows anyone to create and trade meme coins in seconds without coding or technical barriers. The platform operates on a bonding curve mechanism: users purchase tokens directly from a smart contract, where each newly minted token drives the price higher. Selling burns tokens and lowers the price, providing instant liquidity and enabling fair launches with no presales or team pre-mines. Once a successful token reaches a specific market cap threshold, it "graduates" to a traditional AMM (such as PumpSwap).

Ecosystem Highlights

The pump.fun platform's daily trading volume has returned to elevated levels (over $700 million), generating millions of dollars in weekly revenue and powering PUMP buybacks. Viral meme coins (e.g., Jimothy) have recently revitalized ecosystem activity.

On July 12, 2026, the first unlock of 82.5 billion PUMP tokens (about $125 million, representing approximately 20% of circulating supply) took place for the team and investors. Despite significant unlock pressure, buybacks supported by platform revenue helped absorb some of the selling pressure.

Overall, PUMP has shown volatile performance during the meme cycle, but the platform’s real revenue provides a degree of support.

Community Views

Community opinions on PUMP are polarized, though overall engagement remains high:

Positives: The market recognizes the platform's "real cash flow" (millions in daily revenue), buyback program, and cultural influence over memes. KOL purchases frequently trigger short-term pumps, and many regard it as core infrastructure for the Solana meme ecosystem.

Controversies: The market criticizes Pump's unlock pressure, allegations of insider selling, legal risks (labeled a "digital casino"), and the high failure rate of meme coins. The community views PUMP as highly speculative in the short term, with its price heavily influenced by viral trends and KOLs. However, long-term bulls focus on whether revenue-driven buybacks can offset supply pressure.

Summary: PUMP is the flagship launchpad token for meme coins, benefiting from the Solana ecosystem and viral social traction, yet it remains heavily dependent on meme market cycles, revenue sustainability, and unlock management. It may appeal to high-risk-tolerance users; investors should be aware of extreme volatility, regulatory risks, and supply events.

Ondo (ONDO)

Project Overview

Ondo Finance is a leading platform specializing in Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization, bringing traditional financial products — such as U.S. Treasuries, money market funds, stocks, and ETFs — on-chain to deliver institutional-grade, compliant yield products. It operates both an asset management arm (issuing tokenized products) and a technology arm (developing DeFi protocols like Flux Finance).

Community Views

In July 2026, Ondo launched Flow and other products, supporting perpetual contracts collateralized by tokenized stocks and logging $100 million in first-day trading volume. Ondo's TVL stands at approximately $2 billion–$3.5 billion, bridging TradFi and DeFi through partnerships with BlackRock, JPMorgan, Mastercard, and others. The market views Ondo as one of the most institutionally tailored projects in the RWA space, positioning it as relevant for yield-focused and compliance-oriented users. However, market risks and the token's reliance on governance for its utility remain key factors to monitor.

Chainlink (LINK)

Project Overview

Chainlink is the premier decentralized oracle network, delivering secure and reliable external data (such as prices, events, and randomness) as well as cross-chain interoperability to smart contracts. It solves the blockchain "island" problem and has secured over $31.5 trillion in cumulative transaction value, serving as core infrastructure for DeFi, RWA, gaming, insurance, and other sectors.

Market Updates

In 2026, Chainlink continues to expand cross-chain functionality and institutional adoption. Recently, Robinhood Chain adopted Chainlink as its official oracle and CCIP provider to power tokenized stock pricing. Additional integrations include Aave and Mantle, along with ongoing collaborations with major South Korean banks to advance real-time cross-border settlements.

Overall, Chainlink is a clear leader in the oracle and cross-chain space, continuing to expand in 2026 through CCIP and institutional integrations. It may appeal to users interested in RWA/DeFi infrastructure, but LINK's price is significantly affected by market sentiment and token supply dynamics.