Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan says Hyperliquid’s HYPE token remains undervalued, even after becoming one of 2026’s strongest large-cap crypto performers.
Summary
- HYPE rose 77% this year as Bitwise argued investors still undervalue Hyperliquid’s wider market reach.
- Hougan said Hyperliquid’s $170 billion monthly volume shows demand beyond crypto perpetual futures markets.
- Bitwise will use 10% of BHYP management fees to buy and hold HYPE tokens directly.
Hougan wrote in a May 19 memo that HYPE is up 77% year to date, making it the best-performing large-cap crypto asset of 2026. Still, he said investors are not fully pricing Hyperliquid’s reach or token model.
He described HYPE as one of crypto’s most mispriced assets. His view is based on two points: Hyperliquid’s market may be wider than crypto, and its token is tied more directly to platform activity than many older DeFi assets.
Hyperliquid expands beyond crypto trading
Hyperliquid started as a perpetual futures exchange for crypto assets. Hougan said the platform now gets nearly half its volume from non-crypto assets, including commodities, S&P 500 futures, pre-IPO stocks, and prediction markets.
He said non-crypto assets could reach 70% of Hyperliquid’s trading volume by year-end. Hougan also said the platform handled $170 billion in trading volume over the past month, helped by its move into a larger market.
Moreover, Hougan called HYPE a “Gen 2” crypto token because its design links platform activity to token value. He said 99% of trading fees generated on Hyperliquid go toward buying back HYPE.
He wrote, “More trading → more buybacks → more value accrual. No ambiguity.” Bitwise also said it will use 10% of the management fee from its BHYP Hyperliquid ETF to buy and hold HYPE on its balance sheet.
ETF demand adds fresh market focus
Market updates show growing attention around Hyperliquid-linked funds. Bitwise’s BHYP launched on NYSE on May 15 with a 0.34% sponsor fee, while 21Shares’ Hyperliquid ETF drew more than $5 million in inflows within days of its U.S. launch.
Related price coverage also showed HYPE rising about 24% in six days, moving near its all-time high as ETF demand, USDC growth, and synthetic markets lifted attention around Hyperliquid.
Hougan said the market is still valuing Hyperliquid like a fast-growing crypto futures venue. He argued it should instead be compared with a global trading platform across crypto, equities, commodities, foreign exchange, prediction markets, and structured products.
