Bitwise Calls HYPE Most Mispriced as $170B Volume Powers Buybacks, 21Shares ETF Lands

Hyperliquid News

Crypto asset manager Bitwise has labeled Hyperliquid's HYPE token one of the most mispriced assets in crypto today despite its standout 2026 performance. Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan published a note on Tuesday arguing investors are still underestimating the project's reach and earnings power. HYPE is the best-performing large-cap altcoin of the year, up roughly 77% year-to-date, yet Hougan contends current pricing fails to capture how the platform fits within the broader financial landscape. The firm rolled out its own HYPE-linked exchange-traded fund on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday and committed a share of management fees toward accumulating additional tokens.

The mispricing thesis hinges on how the market frames Hyperliquid's product. Hougan said investors continue to value it as a perpetual crypto futures exchange rather than a global super-app spanning equities, foreign exchange, commodities and prediction markets. He estimated the addressable market reaches roughly $600 trillion in global assets, far above the $3 trillion crypto sector alone. Nearly half of platform volume already flows through non-crypto instruments, with Hougan projecting that share could climb toward 70%. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has publicly backed the super-app concept, calling for venues able to custody and trade multiple asset classes under unified regulatory frameworks.

Trading metrics underpin the bullish case. Hyperliquid generated roughly $170 billion in volume over the past month and now operates at $800 million to $1 billion in annualized revenue, trading at about 10 to 14 times its buyback stream. That multiple sits well below comparable traditional venues such as Robinhood and CME Group despite faster growth. The economics tie tightly to the token: 99% of trading fees fund HYPE buybacks, creating a direct loop between platform usage and token value. Hougan described HYPE as a 'Gen 2' token, structured to accrue value over time in a manner closer to a traditional security.

The ETF wrapper around Hyperliquid is gaining ground in parallel. 21Shares said its newly launched U.S. Hyperliquid product attracted more than $5 million in inflows within days of going live and recorded roughly $8 million in single-day trading volume. Global head of research Eli Ndinga framed the demand as evidence that investors want continuous access to crypto, oil, silver and gold through one venue. Silver trading on Hyperliquid briefly represented around 2% of CME silver volume, while activity spiked when traditional markets closed during recent geopolitical tensions. The firm leans on third-party staking providers rather than in-house infrastructure for the product.

A recent stablecoin partnership with Coinbase and Circle is reshaping where USDC economics land. The arrangement redirects a portion of stablecoin yield away from the issuer and toward trading venues that custody balances, channeling additional revenue back into the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Analysts have argued the structure could sustain demand for HYPE while compressing Circle's margins on USDC reserves. For Hyperliquid, the deal layers a recurring economic stream on top of fee-driven buybacks. For Circle, it marks a shift in how the largest U.S.-regulated stablecoin issuer shares yield with venues that drive transactional usage of its dollar-pegged token.

Expansion has not gone unnoticed by incumbents. Reports indicate Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group have approached U.S. regulators to push for tighter constraints on Hyperliquid's energy and commodities trading, where the platform's offshore status keeps it outside conventional oversight. Hougan acknowledged the project still needs to mature and integrate into U.S. regulatory plumbing, noting the venue remains unavailable to American users. Atkins has tasked the SEC with exploring how tokens tied to securities can trade on platforms it does not directly regulate, a framework that could eventually accommodate the DeFi platform if it secures the right licensing structure.

HYPE trades near $48.96, up 2.23% over 24 hours, with market capitalization around $11.68 billion. Immediate resistance sits at $48.98, followed by $51.25 and $55.33, while support stacks at $48.29, $46.32 and $43.93. RSI at 66.24 leaves room before the overbought threshold, and the MACD signal remains bullish in line with the broader uptrend on the daily candlestick chart. A clean break above $48.98 on rising volume opens a path toward $51.25, while a daily close below $46.32 would weaken the structure. Failure of the $43.93 floor would invalidate the near-term bull-market thesis.