Layer 1 blockchain

Hyperliquid ticker HYPE

No public-data lookups yet
3 reviewed developments
40 cited sources

Summary

Proof-of-stake Layer 1 secured by HyperBFT, a consensus protocol Hyperliquid describes as inspired by HotStuff. HYPE holders delegate to validators, and a round commits once validators holding more than two thirds of stake sign it. Execution applies committed rounds to one shared state with two parts. HyperCore holds perpetual and spot order books, margin accounts, staking and validator-published oracle prices as built-in protocol logic. The HyperEVM is an Ethereum-compatible contract environment (chain ID 999) built inside the same execution and secured by the same validators, with read and write access to HyperCore. Block ordering is aware of order-book actions: within each block, actions that place no good-til-cancelled or immediate-or-cancel orders go first, then cancels, then actions that place such orders. 2 3 4 10 12 14 23

Design

System: Layer 1 blockchainHyperliquid runs its own HyperBFT proof-of-stake consensus with its own validators and is not anchored to another chain. Its USDC route through Arbitrum is a bridge, and the HyperEVM is a contract environment inside the same chain, not a separate layer. It is filed under settlement family other: HyperCore is custom protocol logic, and although the HyperEVM runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine and uses Ethereum's address format, consensus and core state run on Hyperliquid's own HyperBFT and HyperCore software.
Settlement family: Its own design
Scarce resource: Stake (proof of stake)
State model: Accounts
Finality: Other
Who makes blocks: Validators in the active set, which the docs define as the top 27 by stake, produce blocks in proportion to stake. Registering is permissionless but needs a 10,000 HYPE self-delegation locked for one year. The set and stakes are fixed for epochs of 100,000 rounds (about 90 minutes). On 27 September 2026 the public info API listed 27 active validators; five named Hyper Foundation held about 48% of active stake.
Fork choice: No fork choice in the Nakamoto sense. The docs state that all honest nodes agree on the ordered list of committed rounds, so a committed block is final, assuming more than two thirds of stake is honest. Conflicting commits would need at least one third of stake to sign twice; the docs reserve slashing for that but say no automatic slashing is implemented. By the quorum rule, if more than one third of stake is offline the chain stops rather than forks.

Qualifications

Hyperevm · Applies. The HyperEVM is part of Hyperliquid itself: its blocks are built inside the chain's execution and secured by the same validators, so it is neither a rollup nor a sidechain. Moving HYPE or linked tokens between HyperCore and the HyperEVM is an internal transfer, not a bridge.
Slashing · Partial. The staking docs reserve slashing for provably malicious acts such as double-signing but say no automatic slashing is implemented. Slow validators are jailed by peer vote, which stops rewards but does not remove stake. Separately, validators can vote to slash stake posted by market deployers and stablecoin deployers.
Decentralization · Contested. Hyperliquid describes a permissionless set of independent validators. Against that: the active set is the top 27 by stake, the Foundation's five validators held about 48% of active stake on 27 September 2026 (by the two-thirds rule enough to stall the chain alone, though not to finalize blocks alone), its delegation program requires identity checks, and there is one node implementation shipped as binaries.
Block time · Partial. There are three clocks: consensus rounds (about 100,000 per 90 minutes by the docs' epoch figure), execution heights that advance only on rounds with transactions, and HyperEVM blocks, small ones every second and large ones every minute. One block time does not describe the chain.
Order matching · Applies. Orders, cancels and matching are part of consensus-ordered state: every node executes the same order books in the same order.
Tps · Not applicable. No transactions-per-second figure is recorded. The only sourced figure is the documented order capacity, classified separately as a theoretical peak that is not comparable.
Settlement family · Partial. Recorded as other. Hyperliquid's own terms: HyperBFT proof-of-stake consensus and HyperCore, built-in protocol logic holding the order books, margin accounts, staking and validator-published oracle prices; the HyperEVM, which runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine, is a contract environment inside the same chain rather than a separate layer.
Finality · Applies. Recorded as other. Hyperliquid's own terms: a HyperBFT round commits once validators holding more than two thirds of stake sign it, and a committed block is final, assuming more than two thirds of stake is honest. The docs reserve slashing for double-signing but say no automatic slashing is implemented.

Tradeoffs

This view follows one way of thinking about design priorities, often called the blockchain trilemma. The design-priorities lesson sets out the counter-view. Read the design-priorities lesson.

Emphasizes

Scalability

Gives up

Decentralization of consensus and node operation. The active set is capped at 27 validators by stake, Hyper Foundation validators held about 48% of active stake when read on 27 September 2026, a non-validating node needs 16 vCPUs and 128 GB of RAM, validators are jailed if they cannot keep low latency to peers (the node guide recommends Tokyo), and the node software is published as signed binaries rather than source code.Scalability here means low-latency order handling for one integrated trading system, not general capacity. Finality is fast and deterministic under an honest two-thirds assumption, but with no automatic slashing and one organization's validators above one third of stake, that assumption leans on few operators. The stake share was computed from the public info API, not taken from a published statistic. Hyperliquid's own pages describe the validator set as permissionless and independent.

Full node at home

Data-center class 20 21The official node guide lists 16 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM and a 500 GB SSD for a non-validating node (RAM raised from 64 GB in May 2026) and 32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD for a validator, on Ubuntu 24.04 only, with gossip ports open to the public. By default a node writes about 100 GB of logs a day that operators must archive or delete. The guide recommends Tokyo for lowest latency. Bandwidth needs are not published. A non-validating node of this size, with 128 GB of RAM and daily log volume to manage, is beyond typical home equipment.

Throughput claims

Theoretical peak: 200,000 1 2 20Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Orders per second as stated on the HyperCore overview page; an introductory page words the same figure as transactions per second.Not stated with the figure; the node guide lists 32 vCPUs and 128 GB RAM for validators and 16 vCPUs and 128 GB RAM for non-validating nodes.No method, test date, order mix or measurement window is published, so the figure cannot be reproduced or compared across chains. Orders are not trades or transfers: the figure counts order actions and does not say how many fill or settle. The docs say execution is the current bottleneck and that consensus could go much further; that forward claim is unmeasured. The figure ignores propagation to distant nodes, the roughly 100 GB of daily node logs and state growth. The HyperEVM has separate, much smaller gas limits and is not covered by this figure.

Headline figures are not comparable across chains. A theoretical peak is never a like-for-like number.

Scaling layers

No scaling layer recorded in this profile.

Capabilities

Capabilities of Hyperliquid: how each one is provided, or its research status
Capability	How it is provided	Notes and sources
Account abstraction	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Atomic swaps	Built into the protocolLimited scope	HyperCore order books: an order-book fill settles both sides inside one HyperCore state in the same block, enforced by consensus, so swaps between assets held on Hyperliquid need no custodian. Limited: same chain only. Across chains, Garden (listed in Hyperliquid's own bridge guide for BTC) runs hash time-locked swaps between bitcoin and Unit's uBTC token on the HyperEVM; that is a third-party service, and the uBTC received still depends on Unit's guardians. 4 37 38 39
Authenticated data publication	Unknown	Not yet assessed under the current definitions; the earlier review found no feature for publishing data against a commitment the chain records, and its note said absence was not exhaustively verified. Node data files and API servers report chain state, which does not count as data publication under this row. 5
Light clients	Unknown	Not yet assessed under the current definitions; no light-client protocol or header-verification path for users was documented, and absence was not exhaustively verified. API servers relay a connected node's state, which is not light verification, and the public HyperEVM endpoint's syncing call always reports false. 5 13
Native staking or delegation	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
On-chain governance	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Parallel execution	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Payment or state channels	Unknown	No payment or state channel layer anchored to Hyperliquid was found in the reviewed sources.
Programmable spending	Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition	The HyperEVM runs EVM smart contracts (Ethereum's Cancun rules without blobs) that can read HyperCore state and send HyperCore actions through a system contract. HyperCore accounts themselves use fixed-function controls: built-in multi-signature thresholds of up to 10 signers and approved signing-only API wallets. 8 9 11 12
Protocol-verified messaging	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Reversible transfers or recovery	Unknown	Not yet assessed under the current definitions; the cited docs describe no reclaimable or delayed payment and no recovery path. A staking account linked to a trading account can move all of the trading account's funds to itself at once, or lock it permanently so its funds move to the staking account a year later. The docs advise against this one-way emergency control between two accounts of the same owner in normal operation and do not define it as recovery, so it does not meet part (b). Multi-signature accounts are a plain threshold; account control belongs to the pending account-abstraction row. 8 15
Rollups	Unknown	Unknown under the rule that absence needs a source: the earlier note said absence was not exhaustively verified. No rollup settling to Hyperliquid was found; the HyperEVM is part of the same chain under the same consensus, not a rollup. 10
Shielded transfers	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Signed partial offers	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition.

Reading these values

How this feature is provided: Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
Structured assessment pending: The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
Unknown: The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
Earlier definition: Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
Reading across rows: The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.

Definitions, schema version and review history

Ecosystem & custody

Ecosystem products for Hyperliquid
Product type	Status	Notes and sources
Automated market makers	Established in the ecosystemHyperSwap (HyperEVM), Kittenswap (HyperEVM)	HyperSwap documents automated market maker pools on the HyperEVM; Kittenswap documents a pool-based exchange there. Most trading happens on the protocol order books instead. The protocol's own Hyperliquidity strategy places automated orders on spot books and is not a pool. Liquidity depth was not measured. 17 30 31 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Issuer-native stablecoins	Established in the ecosystemUSDC (Circle)	Circle lists native USDC on the HyperEVM and supports its transfer protocol there (domain 19); USDC sent this way is minted on the HyperEVM and forwarded to HyperCore. Hyperliquid says under 10% of HyperCore USDC still sits in the legacy Arbitrum bridge. USDT0 is a cross-chain token representation, not Tether-issued supply on Hyperliquid. 6 24 25 26 27 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Algorithmic stablecoins	Unknown	No algorithmic stablecoin with material usage was verified. Felix's feUSD is an over-collateralized debt-position stablecoin, which this review does not count as algorithmic; its usage was not measured. 32 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Bridges	Native to the protocolLegacy Arbitrum USDC bridge (validator-signed), Circle CCTP V2 (HyperEVM domain 19), Unit (BTC, ETH, SOL and others), USDT0 (LayerZero), deBridge, Wormhole, Axelar, Chainlink CCIP	The Arbitrum bridge is run by validators and is now deprecated in favour of Circle's protocol. Unit handles deposits and withdrawals of BTC, ETH, SOL and other assets to HyperCore. Hyperliquid's docs list the other routes for tokens minted on the HyperEVM. Risk: The Arbitrum bridge releases funds on hot-key signatures from two thirds of validator stake after a dispute period in which lockers can freeze it, so it inherits the validator set's concentration. Unit is secured by a two-of-three threshold signature among its guardians, who can pause operations. Third-party messaging bridges were not reviewed. 7 16 22 25 28 29 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Block explorers	Established in the ecosystemHyperliquid explorer (app.hyperliquid.xyz), HypurrScan, Flowscan, HyperEVMScan (Etherscan team), Hyperscan (hyperscan.com, hl.eco and QuickNode)	Hyperliquid's tools pages list the first three for HyperCore and the last two for the HyperEVM; a user needs one of each kind to see both halves of the chain. The tools page labels hyperscan.com as Blockscout, but the site itself now says it is built by hl.eco and QuickNode. Explorer data is provider-indexed, not consensus proof. 18 19 33 34 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Hardware wallets	Established in the ecosystemLedger (HyperEVM), Trezor (HyperEVM)	See custody rows: Ledger's and Trezor's own pages list HYPE on the HyperEVM network, but neither lists HyperCore, where spot balances, trading and staking live. 35 40 As of Sep 27, 2026.

Hardware-wallet custody

Hardware-wallet custody for Hyperliquid
Device maker	Status	What users can and cannot do
Ledger	PartialSame as native: No	Can: Send and receive HYPE on the HyperEVM network in Ledger Wallet, which Ledger's asset table lists Can: Buy and swap HYPE on the HyperEVM through Ledger Wallet, per the same table Can: Use the device with compatible third-party wallets, which the table marks as supported Cannot: Stake HYPE through Ledger Wallet: Ledger's table shows no staking for HyperEVM HYPE Cannot: Manage HyperCore spot, trading or staking balances in Ledger Wallet: only the HyperEVM network is listedLedger covers the contract half of the chain, not HyperCore. The first page of its table also has a row labelled Hyperliquid with the USDC ticker that allows send and receive; which network it covers is unclear. Signing HyperCore actions through a browser wallet paired with a Ledger was not tested. 35 36 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Trezor	PartialSame as native: No	Can: Send and receive HYPE on the HyperEVM network in Trezor Suite, which Trezor's Hyperliquid page names as the supported network Can: Use a Trezor Safe 3, Safe 5 or Safe 7 with MetaMask or Rabby, per the same page Cannot: Manage HyperCore spot, trading or staking balances in Trezor Suite: the page lists only the HyperEVM Cannot: Find HYPE staking on Trezor's page, which does not mention itHyperliquid's own help pages warn that some services handle HyperCore HYPE but not HyperEVM HYPE, so users should check which half an address is used on. Signing HyperCore actions through MetaMask or Rabby with a Trezor was not tested. 37 40 As of Sep 27, 2026.

Public data

iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Hyperliquid yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.

Public-data lookups for Hyperliquid
Lookup	Status	What it covers and its limits
Address or account	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
Tokens and assets	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
NFTs	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
Transactions	Not available yet	Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.

A lookup covers one address or transaction from one provider. It is never a complete wallet, and an error or private value is reported as unknown, not zero. About public data · Connect your AI

Sourced developments

Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.

Publication date · newest first

Published May 9, 2026ProtocolVerified against sources

Node guide raises non-validator memory to 128 GB

The official node guide changed the stated machine specification for non-validating nodes from 64 GB to 128 GB of RAM, matching validators. The CPU (16 vCPUs) and storage (500 GB SSD) figures did not change.
- Implementation:documentation change
- Release:published in the node guide
- Activation:guidance in effect from 9 May 2026
Date basis: Date of hyperliquid-dex/node commit f256f31 (update spec), 9 May 2026.

Sources: hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) — node commit f256f31: update spec (external site) · hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) — hyperliquid-dex/node: Running a node (external site)
Published Apr 14, 2026ProtocolVerified against sources

Official Python SDK adds support for priority fees

Release 0.23.0 of Hyperliquid's official Python SDK added priority-fee support. The docs describe two mechanisms: auctions on a three-minute cycle for earlier delivery of network data to a chosen IP address, and per-order fees that speed up immediate orders or improve queue position for post-only orders. All priority fees are burned.
- Implementation:documented and supported in the official SDK
- Release:SDK 0.23.0 released
- Activation:live per current docs; activation date not confirmed
Date basis: Release date on the hyperliquid-python-sdk 0.23.0 release page, 14 April 2026. The node guide documented the setting that lets nodes honour gossip priority a day earlier (commit f4b32f9, 13 April 2026). The protocol's own activation date for priority fees was not confirmed.

Sources: hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) — hyperliquid-python-sdk 0.23.0 (external site) · Hyperliquid Docs — Priority fees (external site) · hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) — node commit f4b32f9: document node priority gossip config (external site)
Published Nov 19, 2025ProtocolVerified against sources

Validators told to publish a daily reference rate for aligned stablecoins

Hyperliquid's node guide added instructions for active validators to run a rate publisher and post a daily rate vote at 22:00 UTC, using a reference publisher from a Native Markets repository. The chain takes the stake-weighted median of these votes as the rate used to work out how much reserve yield aligned stablecoin issuers share with the protocol.
- Implementation:reference publisher documented in the node guide
- Release:Documented
- Activation:mainnet activation date not confirmed
Date basis: Date of hyperliquid-dex/node commit 2dcb347 (publish risk free rate), 19 November 2025. When the vote first took effect on mainnet was not confirmed.

Sources: hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) — node commit 2dcb347: publish risk free rate (external site) · Hyperliquid Docs — Aligned quote assets (external site)

Topics your AI can explain

Your AI can explain these topics for Hyperliquid through the connection, with sources.

What Hyperliquid is: one chain with a built-in exchange engine and an EVM
Consensus: HyperBFT, a 27-validator active set and concentrated stake
State model: one account-based state split into HyperCore and the HyperEVM
Fees and units: trading fees on HyperCore, burned gas on the HyperEVM
Finality: one committed block, no reorganizations if the quorum is honest
Getting assets in and out: USDC routes, Unit and other bridges
Running a node: permissionless, but heavy and binary-only

Known gaps

What this profile's review did not establish:

No independent specification or peer-reviewed description of HyperBFT was found; the mechanism is described from Hyperliquid's own documentation.
The node software is distributed as signed binaries, and no source repository for it was found in the hyperliquid-dex GitHub organization, so its behaviour was not independently checked.
Stake distribution comes from one read of the public info API on 27 September 2026; it changes every epoch, and no official statistic was used.
Bandwidth needs, chain state size and growth for a non-validating node are not published.
Round and block intervals are inferred from the epoch length and the priority-fee documentation, not measured.
Whether HyperCore actions can be signed with a Ledger or Trezor through a browser wallet was not tested; the Ledger row labelled Hyperliquid with a USDC ticker could not be matched to a network.
USDH and other issuer stablecoins on Hyperliquid were not reviewed from issuer pages; the Native Markets site did not describe USDH.
The security models of LayerZero, deBridge, Wormhole, Axelar and Chainlink routes listed in the docs were not reviewed.
Liquidity depth of HyperEVM pools and usage of feUSD and USDe were not measured.
No light-client path or channel layer was found; absence was not exhaustively verified. The only hash time-locked cross-chain swap found is a third-party service (Garden), whose liquidity and usage were not reviewed.
Hyperliquid's HyperEVM overview page still calls it alpha and says write system contracts are not live on mainnet, while the developer pages document them and a read of the public HyperEVM endpoint on 27 September 2026 found the write contract deployed and a read precompile answering; the overview page appears out of date. Planned throughput increases were not confirmed.
Hyperliquid's tools page labels hyperscan.com as Blockscout, but the site now names hl.eco and QuickNode as its builders; whether a separate Blockscout HyperEVM explorer exists was not checked.
Owlscan, listed on the HyperEVM tools page, did not respond and was not reviewed.

Sources

Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.

All 40 sources were checked in the last 30 days.

Hyperliquid 101 for non-crypto audiences (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperCore overview (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Staking (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Order book (HyperCore) (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
API servers (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
USDC (HyperCore) (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
USDC and the legacy bridge (API) (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Multi-sig (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Nonces and API wallets (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperEVM (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperEVM (developer overview) (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Interacting with HyperCore (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperEVM JSON-RPC (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Running a validator (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Fees (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HIP-1: Native token standard (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HIP-2: Hyperliquidity (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperEVM tools (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperCore tools (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
hyperliquid-dex/node: Running a node (external site)hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
node commit f256f31: update spec (non-validator RAM to 128 GB) (external site)hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Bridge2.sol (legacy Arbitrum bridge contract) (external site)hyperliquid-dex (GitHub) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Public info API, request type validatorSummaries (POST, read 27 September 2026) (external site)Hyperliquid public API · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
USDC contract addresses (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
CCTP supported chains and domains (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Transfer USDC from Arbitrum to HyperCore (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
USDT0 deployments (external site)USDT0 Network · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Unit security (external site)Unit · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Unit supported assets (external site)Unit · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperSwap protocol concepts overview (external site)HyperSwap · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Kittenswap introduction (external site)Kittenswap · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
How the CDP Market (feUSD) works (external site)Felix · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
HyperEVMScan (external site)Etherscan · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Hyperscan HyperEVM explorer (built by hl.eco and QuickNode) (external site)hl.eco · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Supported crypto assets, page 2 (HyperEVM / HYPE row) (external site)Ledger · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Supported crypto assets, page 1 (Hyperliquid / USDC row) (external site)Ledger · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
How to use the HyperEVM (external site)Hyperliquid Docs · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Garden EVM contracts (hashed time lock contracts) (external site)Garden · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Garden supported chains and assets (HyperEVM: uBTC) (external site)Garden · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Keep your Hyperliquid safe with Trezor wallet (external site)Trezor · retrieved Sep 27, 2026

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Funding disclosure

Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding