- Yan explained how he started the decentralized platform, his beliefs behind it, and why he chose to grow it slowly
- He emphasized that VCs often foster an illusion of progress by bloating valuations without delivering real utility
- Hyperliquid processed $1.8 trillion annually, with $10 billion daily trading volume
In a recent interview, Hyperliquid’s founder Jeff Yan explained how he started the decentralized platform, his beliefs behind it, and why he chose to grow it slowly. Yan’s strategy has quietly allowed Hyperliquid to become one of the most successful self-funded projects in the cryptocurrency space.
“I was never really doing it for money. I think trading teaches you that money is really just a number,” Yan said, since the platform was wholly self-funded from inception with no venture capital.
He emphasized that VCs often foster an illusion of progress by bloating valuations without delivering real utility. Instead, Yan decided to focus on what’s best for users and the community, not what looks good to investors.
He described Hyperliquid as a project that is not focused on making a profit. Rather, it’s a new way of doing things where the community, and not the big investors, get all the long-term rewards. Yan noted that all protocol fees are distributed exclusively to liquidity providers and insurance funds, with the developers receiving no share.
What about the token? This community-first approach is also reflected in the tokenomics. Here’s our report on Hyperliquid’s unique deflationary model.
Why Hyperliquid Stayed Off Big Exchanges
Interestingly, Hyperliquid chose not to list on major centralized exchanges or engage in market-maker partnerships. Yan explained that the focus was on building and not marketing, as well as on letting users discover the platform organically. Additionally, he wanted to preserve authenticity and decentralization, instead of driving superficial traction.
It’s an unconventional approach, but one that ended up being a success, considering Hyperliquid processed $1.8 trillion annually, with $10 billion daily trading volume.
“Just 11 People” Behind a Trillion-Dollar DEX
Yan clarified that Hyperliquid operates with just 11 full-time members, split almost evenly between engineering and operations. He attributes the protocol’s success to disciplined focus and passionate leadership. Yan emphasized the importance of maintaining a high-integrity, close-knit company culture, stating that “hiring the wrong person is much worse than not hiring anyone at all.”
Hyperliquid maintains an agile approach, quietly implementing upgrades such as HLP3 and other performance enhancements.
How are they growing? A big part of the growth is integrating with the biggest names in DeFi. Here’s our story on their USDC integration.
The founder said that the vision is to make this blockchain scalable and functional for everything, while others build stablecoins, tokenized assets, or apps on it. He maintained that such decentralization and openness better align with crypto’s core ideals.
Yan said: “The focus now is to really just make this blockchain as performant and scalable, and have all the right features to build all the finance on that blockchain.”
In the end, he advised builders to focus on creating projects with real substance as opposed to just surface-level appeal, which he sees as crucial for the crypto industry to regain credibility after its recent cycles of rapid booms and painful crashes.
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