Hyperliquid flips Solana in fees, but is the ‘HYPE’ justified?

The decentralized perpetual futures trading assemblage has a caller leader: Hyperliquid (HYPE). Launched successful December 2024, Hyperliquid has its ain Layer-1 blockchain, which has surpassed Solana successful 7-day fees. 

What’s fueling its accelerated growth, and however does HYPE comparison comparative to Solana’s autochthonal token SOL (SOL)?

Protocols ranked by 7-day fees, USD. Source: DefiLlama

Hyperliquid’s halfway offering is its perpetual futures DEX, which enables traders to entree up to 50x leverage connected BTC, ETH, SOL, and different assets. It features a afloat onchain bid publication and zero state fees. Unlike Solana, which supports a wide scope of decentralized applications (DApps), Hyperliquid’s layer-1 is purpose-built to optimize DeFi trading efficiency.

Hyperliquid raises concerns of centralization, but fees are piling up

Hyperliquid’s autochthonal token, HYPE, launched via an airdrop successful November 2024, reaching 94,000 unsocial addresses. This organisation fueled a $2 cardinal marketplace capitalization connected time one, signaling beardown assemblage adoption. However, critics similar LawrenceChiu14 person raised concerns astir the level of centralization connected the Hyperliquid chain, pointing retired that it controls 78% of the stake.

Source: LawrenceChiu14

Hyperliquid generated $12.6 cardinal successful play fees, surpassing Solana ($11.8 million), Tron ($10.2 million), and Raydium ($9.8 million), according to DefiLlama. For comparison, Solana took implicit 3 years to scope $12 cardinal successful fees (March 2024), portion Raydium needed 18 months.

Hyperliquid’s interest ratio is notable, with conscionable $638 cardinal successful TVL—half of Raydium’s $1.25 cardinal and a fraction of Uniswap’s $4.22 billion. Uniswap, the apical DEX, earned $22.8 cardinal successful the aforesaid period, but its higher TVL underscores Hyperliquid’s superior margins.

Another constituent of contention is the reportedly centralized API and closed binary source, according to KamBenbrik. These issues should beryllium intimately examined earlier determining HYPE’s semipermanent potential.

Hyperliquid has buybacks, but Solana offers a wider scope of DApps

A cardinal differentiator is Hyperliquid’s interest structure: each fees are reinvested into the community, backing HYPE buybacks and liquidity incentives, according to its documentation. In contrast, Solana’s fees are distributed crossed its ecosystem, with protocols similar Jupiter and Raydium each surpassing $10 cardinal successful play revenue. This makes nonstop comparisons to Solana’s basal furniture misleading.

Hyperliquid’s $6.7 cardinal marketplace cap—outpacing Uniswap ($4.7 billion) and Jupiter ($1.8 billion)—faces challenges ahead. Token unlocks statesman successful December 2025, perchance pressuring HYPE’s price. Additionally, 47 cardinal HYPE tokens are acceptable for organisation to halfway contributors successful the archetypal fractional of 2026, representing $940 cardinal astatine existent valuations.

Hyperliquid’s emergence besides pressures Solana, arsenic immoderate of its apical DEXs, including Jupiter and Drift Protocol, connection derivatives trading. While Solana benefits from heavy integration with large Web3 wallets similar Phantom and Solflare, arsenic good arsenic a divers DApp ecosystem featuring output aggregators and liquid staking, Hyperliquid’s HYPE buyback programme helps offset these advantages.

For Solana, the existent situation isn’t conscionable Hyperliquid but the broader inclination of DeFi protocols launching their ain layer-1 blockchains. If this continues, request for Solana’s scalability could weaken. SOL holders should intimately show Hyperliquid’s maturation and different emerging chains similar Berachain, which has already attracted $3.2 cardinal successful deposits.

In the adjacent future, Hyperliquid could look contention from BERPS, a perpetual futures trading level connected Berachain. While BERPS presently handles little than $3 cardinal successful regular volume, it has already accumulated $185 cardinal successful unfastened interest, signaling increasing involvement from traders.

Currently, Hyperliquid’s $9 cardinal regular measurement remains unmatched successful the DEX industry. With its interest operation and buyback mechanism, it volition beryllium hard for competitors to drain liquidity done vampire attacks, hence the bullish momentum for HYPE.

This nonfiction is for wide accusation purposes and is not intended to beryllium and should not beryllium taken arsenic ineligible oregon concern advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed present are the author’s unsocial and bash not needfully bespeak oregon correspond the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.