In 2025, the most remarkable data from the cryptocurrency market did not come from established public chains, but from a miracle created by a team of only 11 people: an annual revenue exceeding $650 million, with an average output of $78 million per person.

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image1

As of the end of April 2026, the price of the HYPE token has firmly stood above $40, with a circulating market value exceeding $10 billion. In a market filled with VC packaging and false prosperity, how could Hyperliquid emerge victorious with a strategy of "zero VC, fully on-chain, aggressive buyback"? This article will deeply analyze Hyperliquid's core business model and valuation logic using the latest research data.

Tearing Up the Silicon Valley Script: Rejecting VC with "Protocol Fundamentalism"

Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan (with a background in CS + Mathematics from Harvard, previously a market maker at Hudson River Trading) repeatedly emphasizes a core positioning: Hyperliquid is not a "company" but a neutral "protocol".

To ensure this neutrality, the team implemented an extremely extreme token distribution strategy:

0% allocated to VCs: Starting with self-raised funds, it rejected institutional financing with a $1 billion valuation.
70% allocated to the community: On the first day, 31% was directly airdropped to real users (worth over $1.2 billion).
The team proactively locks up tokens: At the bottom of a deep bear market, the team proactively reduced the monthly token unlock amount by 90% (from 1.2 million to 140,000) to demonstrate absolute confidence in long-term value.

This "protocol fundamentalism" not only earned the community's trust but also formed a dimensional reduction strike in the competitive landscape. The research report reviewed the defeat of Lighter, which had lucrative funding backgrounds from Peter Thiel and a16z with $68 million of financing: although Lighter had a glamorous investor lineup and zero-fee gimmick, its trading volume to open interest (Volume/OI) ratio was inflated 36 times, ultimately losing out in the competition based on real user experience.

Core Data: The "Cash Cow" at the Deep Bear Market Bottom

Hyperliquid is not only a customized L1 blockchain (sub-second block time, 200,000 transactions per second throughput) but also currently the decentralized perpetual contract platform with the deepest liquidity across the network.

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image2

More importantly, the research report points out that the current annualized revenue of $700 million is not the peak value of a bull market but rather a deep bear floor price. In a fear zone where BTC has sharply retraced from historical highs, Hyperliquid still manages to maintain a weekly revenue of $14 million. As the macro environment slowly recovers, normalizing revenue is expected to reach $1.2-1.5 billion.

The Ultimate Form of Value Capture: 97% Auto Buyback and Burn

For investors, the most critical aspect of understanding HYPE’s value lies in its Automatic Fee (AF) buyback mechanism.

This is not a traditional “company buyback” decided by management, but an automatic execution logic hard-coded into the protocol:

The protocol generates transaction fees (USDC)
97% flows automatically into AF
AF is automatically converted into HYPE via on-chain TWAP
HYPE enters a keyless system address and is permanently destroyed

As of now, the total AF buyback amount has surpassed $1 billion, with over 79 million HYPE tokens destroyed. The annualized burn rate accounts for over 7% of the circulating market value, and the buyback intensity is 4-5 times that of the ETH burn rate.

The research report corrects a common misconception: buybacks do not drive business growth (traders will not increase trading because of token buybacks), but buybacks are the ultimate distribution mechanism for the fruits of growth. It ensures that every penny earned by the protocol is precisely and efficiently returned to all token holders through supply reduction.

Structural Growth Variable: Breaking the "Crypto Cycle" with Non-Crypto Trading

If HYPE’s past success relied on the prosperity of the cryptocurrency market, its future potential lies in the introduction of non-crypto trading (RWA).

Since the launch of HIP-3 (permissionless perpetual contract deployment) just 5 months ago, non-crypto trading's share in Hyperliquid has skyrocketed from 0% to 40%.

Commodities: On March 23, 2026, the daily trading volumes of silver and Brent crude oil reached $1.2 billion and $558 million, far surpassing SOL and XRP.
U.S. Stock Indices: The S&P 500 perpetual contract, authorized by S&P Dow Jones, has an open interest of $213 million, ranking first in HIP-3.
Institutional Entry: 318 new wallets with typical TradFi characteristics hold 24.4% of HIP-3 open interest, and institutions like Ripple Prime have fully integrated.

This means that HYPE's value is gradually decoupling from the crypto bull-bear cycles. Whether Bitcoin rises or falls, as long as there are fluctuations in the global financial market, Hyperliquid can capture trading fees. As the research report states, HYPE is more like a "stock of a global exchange," with volatility itself being its fuel.

Exclusive Insights from AiCoin: Left Side Layout and Compliance Outlook

Currently, HYPE's circulating P/F (price-to-earnings ratio) is between 12-15x, compared to ETH's 125x+ and SOL's 100x+, making its valuation still very attractive. At the same time, institutions like 21Shares, Grayscale, and Bitwise are actively pushing for the application of a spot HYPE ETF (21Shares submitted a revised S-1/A filing on April 28), with expectations of compliant fund inflows heating up.

In the uncertain depths of a bear market, profitable quality assets are often undervalued. As a professional cryptocurrency asset data analysis platform, AiCoin continues to track Hyperliquid's on-chain capital flows and significant order movements for you.

Through the AiCoin terminal, you can:

Monitor HYPE on-chain buyback data in real time: Accurately grasp the deflationary effects brought by the AF mechanism.
Track changes in non-crypto asset OI of HIP-3: Gain insights into the inflow trends of TradFi capital.
One-stop authorized trading: Seamlessly connect with Hyperliquid on AiCoin to enjoy a smooth decentralized trading experience.

Practical operations are super simple:

Step 1: Open the Hyperliquid BTC/USDC candlestick chart on AiCoin

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image3

Step 2: Find the toolbar and check the lightning order option

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image4

Step 3: Directly click the green “buy long” or red “sell short” → Instant execution

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image5

Now use the exclusive AiCoin invitation code AICOIN88 to register on Hyperliquid, and you can enjoy a permanent 4% fee rebate.

https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/join/AICOIN88

Earn $700 million a year? How did Hyperliquid do it_aicoin_image6

📖 Beginner's Guide:

“AiCoin PC Client Hyperliquid Authorized Trading Tutorial”:

https://www.aicoin.com/zh-Hans/article/514197

“Zero Basics Entry! Super Detailed Illustrated Tutorial for First-Time Trading on Hyperliquid”:

https://www.aicoin.com/zh-Hans/article/510225

In this "11 people created $1 billion in profits" decentralized miracle, savvy funds have already positioned themselves in advance.

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Net annual earnings of 700 million dollars? How did Hyperliquid achieve this?

Tearing Up the Silicon Valley Script: Rejecting VC with "Protocol Fundamentalism"

Core Data: The "Cash Cow" at the Deep Bear Market Bottom

The Ultimate Form of Value Capture: 97% Auto Buyback and Burn

Structural Growth Variable: Breaking the "Crypto Cycle" with Non-Crypto Trading

Exclusive Insights from AiCoin: Left Side Layout and Compliance Outlook

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