Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on a custom Layer-1 (L1) blockchain, processed about $330 billion in monthly trading volume in July 2025, all with a core team of just 11 people.
Here’s how they pulled off this feat—and why it’s turning heads across DeFi and crypto markets.
What Makes Hyperliquid Different
1. Split-chip Chain Architecture
- The system is designed in two tightly coupled parts: HyperCore, which handles onchain order books, margining, liquidations, and clearing; and HyperEVM, a smart contracts layer for broader programmability and integration.
- It uses HyperBFT, a PoS consensus mechanism inspired by HotStuff, ensuring speed and consistency in transaction ordering, while keeping everything onchain
2. CEX Speed, DeFi Principles
- Median trade latency is around 0.2 seconds, with even the 99th percentile of trades completed under 0.9 seconds.
- Throughput reaches up to 200,000 transactions per second—performance that rivals many centralized exchanges (CEX), while maintaining custody and execution onchain.
Growth Drivers: How They Scaled Without Scaling the Team
Incentive & Tokenomics Tools
- HLP Vault (Hyperliquidity Provider) helps with market making and liquidations, allowing anybody to deposit capital and share in profits and fees.
- The Assistance Fund buys back and burns Hyperliquid’s native token (HYPE) using most of the protocol’s fees, aligning incentives across traders, token holders, and market makers.
Community & Distribution
- A large genesis airdrop rewarded early users, helping build initial liquidity and awareness.
- Integration with Phantom Wallet gave users easy access, further amplifying growth
Why the Team Remains Dreamlike Lean
- Hyperliquid is self-funded, without outside VC pressures. Cointelegraph
- Founder Jeff Yan has emphasized hiring selectively, keeping the team small to maintain speed and culture.
- The organization responds very quickly in incidents. For example, when an API outage lasted 37 minutes, the team reimbursed affected users ~$1.99 million the next business day.
Comparing with Traditional Platforms & Implications
- In July 2025 Hyperliquid’s trading volume briefly surpassed Robinhood’s volumes.
- While traditional exchanges or financial/payment systems may employ dozens or hundreds of people for similar throughput, Hyperliquid shows how a highly automated, well-engineered system can scale with minimal human overhead.
Risks and Watchpoints
Although impressive, the model has potential points of vulnerability:
- Regulatory risk: As stablecoins, DeFi exchanges, and onchain derivatives draw more attention, regulation could impose heavier obligations (reserves, disclosures, reporting).
- Operational risk: With a small team, tail-events (bugs, outages, security incidents) could have outsized impacts if not handled swiftly.
- Validator / decentralization concerns: Ensuring validators are trustworthy and not overly centralized is essential for credibility and security.
