Author: Nancy, PANews
The cost of listing has always been a focus of market controversy, and the huge listing fees are often seen as an important factor hindering market innovation. Therefore, more and more emerging projects choose DEX (decentralized exchange) as the first launch platform, but at the same time, the Rug risk has also increased significantly.
Recently, the derivatives DEX Hyperliquid not only performed well in multiple data after a successful textbook-style airdrop, but its spot listing auction price also hit a new high, further enhancing the platform's market advantage. Under the strong data, according to PANews, many projects have already set their sights on listing on Hyperliquid.
The spot listing auction price has increased significantly after the airdrop, and the spot trading liquidity is concentrated in HYPE
On December 6, a Token ticket named "SOLV" refreshed Hyperliquid's new auction record at around $128,000, attracting the attention of many investors, and it is suspected to be related to the upcoming TGE (Token Generation Event) announcement of the Solv Protocol.
According to the official document, the project party needs to obtain the deployment rights of the HIP-1 native token in order to go online on Hyperliquid. HIP-1 is the native token standard formulated by the protocol for spot trading and creates an on-chain spot order book, similar to ERC20 on Ethereum. But to obtain the permission to issue new tokens, projects usually need to participate in a Dutch auction, which is held every 31 hours, which means that a maximum of 282 token codes can be deployed per year.
This auction fee can also be understood as the deployment Gas fee, which is currently paid in USDC. During the 31-hour auction period, the deployed Gas fee gradually decreases from the initial price, down to a minimum of 10,000 USDC. If the previous auction was not completed, the initial price will be 10,000 USDC; otherwise, the initial price will be twice the final Gas price of the previous auction. The introduction of this auction mechanism not only can avoid the phenomenon of excessive speculation and irrational rise due to overly high prices, but also can dynamically adjust the listing speed of new tokens according to demand. It is this mechanism that also ensures that the number of tokens on the Hyperliquid market will not be too many, and priority will be given to high-quality projects for listing.
Looking at the past auction situation, ASXN data shows that as of December 10, Hyperliquid has conducted more than 150 auctions since May this year. In terms of auction prices, the Hyperliquid airdrop has become an important turning point, with auction prices generally below $25,000 before December, and even hundreds of millions of dollars, and the token codes participating in the auctions are mostly MEME coins, such as PEPE, TRUMP, FUN, LADY and WAGMI, etc. But this month, the auction price has risen sharply, in addition to SOLV, such as SHEEP's auction price is about $112,000, BUBZ is about $118,000, and GENES is about $87,000. This also reflects that the market demand and interest in Hyperliquid have grown significantly after the airdrop heat.
However, in terms of the liquidity of the hundreds of HIP-1 tokens that have been launched, it is mainly concentrated in a few projects. Hyperliquid trading data shows that as of December 10, the platform has launched hundreds of HIP-1 tokens, with a total trading volume of about $2.4 billion in the past 24 hours, of which the Hyperliquid token HYPE accounts for 85.9% of the total trading volume, and the leading MEME project PURR in the ecosystem accounts for more than 6.7%, while the remaining projects account for only 7.4% of the liquidity. This is related to the fact that Hyperliquid is mainly focused on derivatives trading, and the spot market has only gradually taken shape after the rise of MEME.
"Compared to CEX, the actual spot that can be traded on Hyperliquid is very little now. If a large project wins the Hyperliquid spot seat through auction, it is actually a strong alliance. As a on-chain exchange, we are willing to see more high-quality large projects go online or debut through auctions; the USDC capital sinking can also be more focused on the speculation of newly launched assets," said Wu Blockchain analyst @defioasis recently.
Strong performance in multiple data after the airdrop, may become a strong competitor for listing?
With its outstanding market performance and innovative listing strategy, Hyperliquid may become one of the important competitors for listing applications.
On the one hand, the wealth creation effect of Hyperliquid's airdrop, as well as the continuous rise of the token have become the best marketing means, and the project heat has surged, while Hyperliquid has shown strong performance in multiple data.
In terms of token price performance, unlike the general situation of high opening and low closing after the airdrop of most projects, the FDV (fully diluted valuation) of Hyperliquid's token HYPE has been soaring. CoinGecko data shows that HYPE's circulating market value once reached $4.96 billion, and has since retreated slightly, with a current FDV of $13.21 billion, reaching a high of $14.85 billion.
At the same time, Hyperliquid has a relatively strong competitive advantage in the derivatives DEX track. According to the data of The Block on December 9, Hyperliquid's trading volume reached $9.89 billion on that day, accounting for 58.4% of the entire track (about $16.92 billion).
And Hyperliquid has also accumulated a large amount of assets. According to DeFiLlama data, as of December 10, the TVL of Hyperliquid Bridge reached $1.54 billion. Under the huge asset pool of the platform, if Hyperliquid launches more high-quality projects, it may further release the trading potential.
In addition, in terms of fundraising ability, Hyperliquid has shown strong profitability. According to the research analysis of Yunt Capital's @stevenyuntcap, Hyperliquid's revenue includes immediate listing auction fees, profits and losses of HLP market makers, and platform fees, the first two of which are public information, but the team has recently explained the last revenue source. Based on this, Hyperliquid's revenue from the beginning of the year to now can be estimated at $44 million. When HYPE was launched, the team used the Assistance Fund wallet to buy HYPE in the market; assuming the team does not have multiple USDC AF wallets, the profit and loss of the USDC AF from the beginning of the year to now is $52 million. Therefore, adding the $44 million of HLP and the $52 million of USDC AF, Hyperliquid's revenue from the beginning of the year to now is about $96 million, exceeding Lido and becoming the 9th most profitable crypto project in 2024.
These data also demonstrate the attractiveness and competitiveness of Hyperliquid in the market.
On the other hand, Hyperliquid's listing mechanism is more transparent and fair. It is well known that the controversy over listing fees has a long history, including the recent widespread controversy within the circle caused by the listing fee issues of Binance and Coinbase, and there are large differences in views on listing fees.
The opposing view is that the soaring listing fees undoubtedly bring a heavy economic burden to the early development of the project, often having to sacrifice the long-term development potential of the project, thereby affecting the healthy development of the entire ecosystem. Arthur Hayes once revealed in his article that among the top CEXs, Binance charges the highest listing fee of up to 8% of the total token supply, while most other CEXs charge between $250,000 and $500,000, usually paid in stablecoins. He believes that CEXs charging listing fees is not wrong, as these platforms have invested a lot of money to accumulate a user base, which needs to be recouped. However, as an advisor and token holder, if the project gives the tokens to the CEX instead of the users, it will damage the future potential of the project and negatively impact the trading price of the token.
However, the supporting view is that the listing fee is part of the exchange's operation, and can also be used as an effective tool to screen the quality of the project. By charging a certain fee, the exchange can not only ensure the sustainable operation of the platform, but also ensure that the listed projects have a certain economic strength and market recognition, thereby reducing the influx of low-quality projects and maintaining market order and healthy development.
Regarding this, IOSG partner Jocy has published an article proposing several suggestions. First, exchanges need to strengthen information transparency and take severe punitive measures against projects with existing problems; secondly, exchanges should adopt departmental interest isolation to avoid conflicts of interest; finally, they must conduct due diligence carefully, ensure diversity in the decision-making process, and say "no" to any form of project fraud.
In addition to exchanges, project parties should not rely on CEX listings, but rather on user participation and market recognition. For example, Binance founder CZ recently stated, "We should strive to reduce such 'quote attacks' in the industry. Bitcoin has never paid any listing fees. Focus on the project, not the exchange." Arthur Hayes also stated that the biggest problem in the current token issuance is the initial price being too high. Therefore, no matter which CEX gets the first listing right, it is almost impossible to achieve a successful issuance. At the same time, for those project parties who are solely pursuing CEX listings, the tokens can only be sold to the listing trading platform once, but the positive flywheel effect formed by increasing user participation will continue to bring returns. Crypto researcher 0xLoki has also published an article stating that a good enough project will be listed by any exchange. If you need to accept extremely harsh terms to list on an exchange, you need to first consider the motivation of the project party: Is the project really good enough? What is the real purpose of listing on the exchange? Who will ultimately bear the cost?
Ultimately, the core issue regarding listing fees is the transparency and fairness of the fees, as well as the project's potential for sustainable development. Compared to the opacity and high costs of the CEX listing process, Hyperliquid's listing auction mechanism can reduce listing costs and enhance market fairness, ensuring that the assets on the platform have higher value and market potential. At the same time, Hyperliquid will return the listing fees to the community, which will also help to incentivize more users to participate in trading.
In summary, in the current market environment, how to balance listing fees and the long-term development of projects has become a core issue that the industry urgently needs to consider and solve.
