Hyperliquid’s HYPE token surges amid declining fundamentals and rising developer interest

Despite signs of strain in its underlying business, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token has outperformed expectations with an 80% rise in three months, driven by increased platform usage and innovative developer activities, even as trading volume and revenue growth slow down.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token has been one of the standout performers in recent months, rising sharply even as parts of the underlying business have shown signs of strain. According to the data cited by The Currency Analytics, the token climbed about 80% over the past three months, far outpacing Bitcoin’s 10% gain over the same period. Yet that rally has coincided with a more uncomfortable picture beneath the surface: revenue growth has softened, open interest has fallen sharply from its peak, and capital has been flowing out of the network.

The tension is most visible in valuation. Crypto analyst Michael Nadeau, as quoted by the report, said Hyperliquid’s fully diluted price-to-sales multiple has expanded to 47.3, a 67% rise from the previous quarter. That means investors are paying more for each dollar of revenue even though fee generation has deteriorated. Over the last 90 days, the protocol brought in $153.8 million in fees, down 13% from the prior quarter, although still higher than a year earlier. Almost all of those fees were used for HYPE buybacks, creating a deflationary support mechanism for the token.

Trading activity remains substantial, but the composition of that activity is changing. Average daily volume rose 6% quarter-on-quarter to $7.07 billion, while open interest fell to $7.6 billion, roughly half its peak. The platform still dominates decentralised perpetual futures trading, but the same data suggests more churn than conviction, with traders cycling in and out rather than building larger positions. At the same time, the amount bridged into Hyperliquid has dropped to $3.36 billion from earlier highs, with outflows accelerating in recent months.

Not everything is weakening. The HIP-3 framework, which allows third parties to launch perpetual DEXs on top of Hyperliquid’s infrastructure, recorded a dramatic surge in usage, with volumes up 973% quarter-on-quarter to $2.58 billion. That now represents a meaningful share of total activity and points to real developer interest in the platform’s underlying technology. But the HyperEVM side of the ecosystem has lagged, with revenue falling 33% quarter-on-quarter to $1.84 million even as stablecoin balances rose to $1.83 billion, largely on the back of USDC inflows.

Recent market headlines have added another layer to the story. CoinMarketCap reported that Blockchain.com integrated Hyperliquid-powered perpetual futures into its non-custodial wallet, while also noting growing talk of institutional access through ETF filings and a live European ETP. Separately, Cointelegraph said HYPE had rallied on heavy staking and balance-sheet accumulation, though it warned that stagnant perpetual volumes and flat open interest still raise questions about how durable the move really is. Together, those developments suggest Hyperliquid is gaining visibility and distribution, even as its fundamentals and token price continue to drift apart.

Source Reference Map Inspired by headline at: [1]

Sources by paragraph: - Paragraph 1: [2], [5] - Paragraph 2: [1], [5] - Paragraph 3: [1], [5] - Paragraph 4: [1] - Paragraph 5: [2], [3], [4]

Source: Noah Wire Services