The crypto market has been turbulent this month, with one wave after another. First, TRUMP went on a crazy bloodsucking spree across the entire market, then CZ's pet dog sparked a PVP frenzy, followed by the exposure of shocking inside information about the "First Lady Coin" and the "Argentine Coin". The market's attention has been dominated by meme coins backed by celebrities and governments, but retail investors ultimately found that all they got was one sickle after another, leaving them utterly exhausted.
Just at this time, Perp DEX, which has been on a path of growth since its TGE last year, suddenly announced the launch of its HyperEVM mainnet at this delicate juncture. It must be said that the pathological weakness the market has shown this past month has really called for the emergence of a high-quality project that can truly build the crypto world. HyperEVM, like a "master of timing", chose this moment to launch, quickly sparking intense discussion and attention.
What "Sweet Spots" has Hyperliquid hit in the market?
Over the past month, the crypto world has entered an era of "collapse of order and loss of joy". "Cabbage Patch", rug pools, PVP casinos, almost all retail investors have been battered in the zero-sum games of a hellish bull market. But Hyperliquid has smelled the opportunity in the chaos, and has steadily hit almost every market turning point.
Filling the ecosystem, taking the lead
As the vortex center of one wave after another, Solana, the community's "success is also meme, failure is also meme" rhetoric has become increasingly prominent, and the large-scale unlocking coming in March is bringing more uncertainty to the market, with SOL's price falling 30% in a month.
As soon as the news of the HyperEVM launch came out, Hyperliquid became the new market hotspot. According to deBridge's statistics, a large amount of market capital has flowed from Solana to Hyperliquid; CoinMarketCap's market data shows that HYPE's trading volume has increased by 261% in 24 hours. It seems that the degens have indeed been driven to the brink of collapse by all kinds of insider trading, and even without the so-called ten-fold or hundred-fold opportunities, they are more willing to trade on the blockchain that is actually building for the development of crypto.
As the meme tide recedes and Solana falls, the degens are also starting to look around, looking for new mining ecosystems, all turning their attention to the BNB Chain, which has been frequently shilled by CZ since his return. However, the reality is not so rosy, as countless investors have experienced the embarrassment of not being able to buy in or sell out, network congestion, page freezing, being squeezed by the jaws, and encountering countless rug honeypots... Users find that the BNB Chain is far from providing the smooth user experience that Solana does. The launch of HyperEVM has perfectly filled the investors' hunger for a new ecosystem.
Related reading: CZ No Longer Tweets to Boost Meme, Can BNB Chain Still Become the "Next Solana"?
And in the DeFi field where Hyperliquid itself is located, the real-time performance requirements of blockchains for high-frequency trading are becoming increasingly prominent. In this track, Monad has always been seen as a competitor to Hyperliquid. This time, Hyperliquid has launched its EVM before Monad even released its testnet. And Monad? Although the market demand is high, it has not even issued its token yet. Faced with Hyperliquid's move, Monad simply doesn't have a chance to fight back, and has instead been drained of market attention and liquidity early on.
Related reading: Blockchain Tripartite Struggle: Who Can Lead the Future, MegaETH, Hyperliquid or Monad?
Sector rotation, favorable timing
After the sharp correction of SOL, the price of ETH has gradually rebounded. Since many DeFi protocols (such as Uniswap, Aave, Compound, etc.) require ETH as the trading pair, collateral or liquidity provider's base asset, the rebound in ETH price means that the ETH assets in these protocols are also appreciating, boosting investor confidence and attracting more capital inflows into the DeFi field, thereby increasing the activity and trading volume of the entire DeFi market. In addition, the DeFi market as a whole is also shifting towards stabilizing yields, and Hyperliquid's latest upgrade is likely to bring more opportunities to earn liquidity rewards.
When the HyperEVM launch announcement was released on the afternoon of February 18, CoinGecko data showed that the price of Hyperliquid's native token HYPE quickly soared from $1.25 to $1.45 in the first hour, with trading volume surging to 2.3 million HYDRA tokens during that period. In addition, other DeFi tokens also experienced similar price increases, such as AAVE rising from $105 to $112, and Compound (COMP) from $75 to $82. HYPE's market cap also increased by 15.2% to $345 million in the first hour after the announcement. The rapid price fluctuations and market cap growth indicate that the market is full of confidence in Hyperliquid's development and its potential impact on the DeFi ecosystem.
On the other hand, the AI sector, which has been on fire since the end of last year, has been lukewarm since being bled by TRUMP. The newly launched HyperEVM, with its high throughput and low latency characteristics, is very suitable to become the ideal platform for AI-driven trading strategies. In the narrative cycle of AI+Crypto, the launch of HyperEVM's EVM may indirectly affect tokens related to AI, especially the DeFAI project that currently has the most practical application value in the AI sector. It is very likely that a new round of deployment will be launched in the Hyperliquid ecosystem. In addition, the AI projects that Hyperliquid's ecosystem already had may also achieve counter-trend rises by riding on this wave of attention, and now may be a good opportunity to buy the dips.
Related reading: Hyperliquid Ecosystem AI Game Project Token FARM Launched in 1 Hour, Market Cap Exceeds $10 Million
With the launch of HyperEVM, what ecosystem projects are worth paying attention to?
HyperEVM is a general-purpose EVM-compatible chain that supports the common tools of Ethereum. The EVM is permissionless, and anyone can deploy smart contracts, and these smart contracts can directly access the on-chain perpetual contracts and spot liquidity on L1.
How can newbies use HyperEVM
To add the Hyperliquid network to your wallet, first go to settings and select "Add Custom Network". Then fill in the following information: Chain ID 999, Network Name Hyperliquid, enter the RPC URL, and select the currency symbol $HYPE. After filling it out, click confirm and you'll see the Hyperliquid network appear in the EVM network list.
To bridge to HyperEVM, you can refer to the following steps. First, go to the website, then click "Spot" and select $HYPE.
Then, click the "Send" button, and in the address bar, enter the following address: 0x2222222222222222222222222222222222222222. Finally, enter the amount and click "Send" to complete the operation.
Currently, the yields on Hyperliquid are very attractive. According to user @0xDeFiDevin, Hyperliquid users can currently achieve up to 50% delta-neutral yields by combining with GammaSwap. By providing liquidity to the weETH/USDC pool on GammaSwap to earn 80% yields, and then using half of that liquidity position to short ETH 1x on Hyperliquid to earn a 10% funding rate, this combined strategy can essentially maximize returns while diversifying risk, ultimately yielding a net 56% return.
Potential Ecosystem Projects
Many DeFi teams have previously prepared to launch with the EVM. Most of the "well-known" DeFi protocol types (AMMs, lending, liquidity staking, CDPs) are expected to go live with the EVM launch. These projects will enhance overall capital efficiency by allowing HYPE holders to use HYPE as collateral in lending and market protocols. Here are some projects that have already launched on the mainnet:
Parsec (@parsec_finance)
Purrsec is a feature-rich EVM explorer with extensive contract labeling and ecosystem integration, supporting customizable layouts for different address types, and providing contract verification functionality. Additionally, Purrsec allows users to monitor cross-chain deposits, addresses (integrating EVM and L1 portfolios), hot contracts, ecosystem tags, and L1 perpetual contract metrics. Furthermore, it will introduce more features to highlight the unique connection between HyperEVM and Hyperliquid L1.
HyperSwap (@HyperSwapX)
HyperSwap is the native DEX of HyperEVM. HyperEVM allows users to deposit tokens into a vault to earn yield, use them as collateral to borrow stablecoins, or provide liquidity (LP) on HyperSwap instantly. All the functionalities are seamlessly integrated. Meanwhile, some developers have already started building protocols on HyperEVM, including lending Hyperliquid perpetual contract positions, using Hyperliquid Vault (HLP) as collateral to borrow stablecoins, one-click meme coin launches, and cycling assets using the LST protocol.
Kittenswap (@KittenswapHype)
Kittenswap provides a fork of Velodrome v1, introducing Velodrome's VE model and incentive mechanism. The project allocated 15,000 tokens for the TGE, accounting for 15% of the total supply, and 20,000 tokens for the airdrop, accounting for 20% of the total supply. Currently, users can add liquidity for the tokens, swap between different tokens, and participate in the veKITTEN airdrop by earning points. The voting and metric functions will be released along with the $KITTEN token launch.
In addition, after the launch of HyperEVM, there will be more projects that will gradually land on the mainnet. The lending projects include @felixprotocol, @hypurrfi, @sentimentxyz, @HyperYieldx, @hyperlendx, @KeikoFinance, @HyperstableX, @hyperdrivedefi, and @kiblprotocol. The main liquidity staking tokens on HyperEVM include Kinetiq and Thunderhead. In addition to the aforementioned HyperSwap and KittenSwap, the AMM projects on the mainnet will also include Curve, and these projects will provide incentives when they go live.
Related reading: "HyperEVM DeFi: A Guide to the Future"
Since the launch of Hyperliquid, it has first broken the black box of CEX listing, and now it has returned to the spotlight with a more complete L1 ecosystem. How will the crypto world evolve in the future? The only certainty is that the specific path of evolution always has great uncertainty.
Perhaps as Hyperliquid founder Jeff said, cryptocurrencies will reshape the operating paradigm of the financial system, and traditional finance will eventually migrate to the crypto ecosystem. We should always focus on building infrastructure with lasting value, building the indispensable foundation for the future financial infrastructure. "Whether the industry landscape changes in ten years, these modules we build will continue to create value."
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