Hyperliquid Tops Coinbase With $2.6T in Onchain Trading Volume

Background and Context

Hyperliquid launched in 2023, shortly after the collapse of FTX reshaped trader priorities around custody, transparency, and platform risk. From the beginning, the team focused on building a fully onchain central limit order book on a custom Layer 1 blockchain. They introduced HyperBFT consensus to deliver sub-second finality and high throughput. As a result, Hyperliquid offers execution quality similar to centralized exchanges, while still preserving self-custody and onchain settlement.

Next, adoption accelerated through a points-based incentive program that culminated in a major airdrop in November 2024. At the time, Hyperliquid distributed over $1 billion worth of HYPE tokens to tens of thousands of users. Importantly, Hyperliquid trading volume remained elevated even after incentives normalized, signaling durable demand rather than short-term farming.

In 2025, Hyperliquid expanded further with the rollout of HyperEVM, which turned the platform into a broader ecosystem rather than a single trading venue. This expansion attracted developers, liquidity, and new use cases. Meanwhile, external conditions supported growth. Regulatory pressure on centralized exchanges increased, market volatility favored perpetual contracts, and traders sought efficient, permissionless alternatives.

Investor Sentiment

Following the Artemis data release, discussion spread quickly across crypto media and social platforms. Observers emphasized not just headline volume figures, but also execution quality, liquidity depth, and sustained user activity. Consequently, sentiment has continued shifting away from legacy exchange brands toward high-performance onchain platforms.

Moreover, HYPE’s strength during a broader market slowdown has reinforced this narrative. In contrast, COIN’s decline reflects concerns around regulatory exposure, slower trading volumes, and margin pressure. Together, these trends suggest that investors increasingly favor decentralized trading infrastructure over traditional exchange models.

Future Implications

Looking ahead, Hyperliquid’s milestone points to a broader transition in crypto markets. Derivatives and perpetuals trading, long dominated by centralized exchanges, are steadily moving onchain. For Coinbase, this shift arrives amid regulatory challenges and the need to diversify revenue beyond transaction fees. While Coinbase retains advantages in compliance, custody, and institutional services, competition from decentralized platforms is intensifying.

For Hyperliquid, the achievement opens the door to deeper integrations, new asset classes, and further ecosystem expansion through HyperEVM. However, risks remain, including evolving DeFi regulation, competition from other high-performance chains, and the challenge of maintaining security and uptime at scale.