Hyperliquid (core)

Changelog.

• v0.2.2 (2026-10-14; replaces v0.2.1, publish hash 35bca6ddce49a756a2f6f9e1c694acd017d3649e972d72a314818bd482dc3f79): the page record now shows the published status, version, publish date and proof; removes the line "All dates on this page are UTC." Body wording: the policy line now names the Learning Hub. No claim changes.
• v0.2.1 (2026-10-06; replaces v0.2, sha256 05684036bb89252b7afe58a2f5d45213eb7a7a6b01fbd9ba28738589ad8886d4): reworded the September 8, 2026 timeline row to say manual borrowing was reported live on mainnet by that date, rather than reading as its launch date.
• v0.2 (2026-10-06; replaces v0.1, sha256 18d9fe20376cc39acc46805b0beaaf746787a9e3c2d6e6f36fc2617caf24783c): removed the legacy bridge's share of HyperCore USDC (a usage figure) and reworded the legacy-bridge risk line without it; dated manual borrowing to September 8, 2026, from Hyperliquid's weekly update on its official Telegram channel; reworded the May 14, 2026 row to say Hyperliquid announced AQAv2, Coinbase announced a plan to activate it on USDC, and USDH would "sunset over time," citing Hyperliquid's Telegram announcement; replaced an uncited judgment on Singapore with Hyperliquid's statement that it "is not, and has never claimed to be, licensed or authorised by MAS"; updated the redirecting docs URL for "About Hyperliquid"; added "All dates on this page are UTC."; relabeled the learning hub from "The File" to "Library".

1. What it is

Hyperliquid is a layer-one blockchain built around an onchain exchange [1]. Order books for perpetual futures ("perps") and spot trading are part of the chain itself, not separate smart contracts [1][2]. Every order, cancel, trade and liquidation is processed onchain [1].

The chain has two parts that share one state and one consensus [1][3]:

• HyperCore holds the exchange: margin accounts, order books and matching [2].
• HyperEVM is a general-purpose smart-contract environment compatible with Ethereum tools [3].

Hyperliquid Labs is described in the docs as a "core contributor" and as self-funded [4]. The Hyper Foundation runs a validator delegation program [5].

This page covers the base chain and exchange. Outcome markets (HIP-4), the USDH stablecoin wind-down and portfolio margin are covered in the HIP-4 dive. The USDC side is covered in the USDC dive.

2. How it works

Consensus and validators

Hyperliquid runs on HyperBFT, a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm based on HotStuff [1][2]. The validator set works like this:

• Stake-weighted blocks. Validators produce blocks in proportion to the HYPE staked with them [2].
• Quorum. Consensus needs more than two-thirds of stake to be honest [6].
• Active set. Anyone can run a node, but the active set is the top 27 validators by stake [7].
• Self-stake. A validator needs 10,000 HYPE of self-delegation, locked for one year [6].
• Epochs. The validator set updates in epochs of 100,000 rounds, about 90 minutes [6].

Validators can vote to "jail" peers that respond too slowly, which stops them from taking part in consensus [6]. The docs say slashing is "reserved for provably malicious behavior such as double-signing," and that "there is currently no automatic slashing implemented" [6]. Unstaking takes seven days [6].

Hyperliquid says end-to-end latency for a co-located client has a median of 0.2 seconds [2]. It puts mainnet capacity at about 200,000 orders per second, with execution as the bottleneck [2].

The exchange (HyperCore)

The perps clearinghouse tracks each address's margin, balances and positions [8]. Deposits go to cross margin by default; isolated margin is optional [8].

Oracle. Validators publish an oracle price for each perp asset every three seconds [9]. Each validator's price is a weighted median of prices from several centralized exchanges and Hyperliquid's own spot market [9]. The final price is the stake-weighted median of the validators' submissions [9]. Oracle prices feed funding and the "mark price" used for liquidations [9].

Funding is paid peer-to-peer every hour, with no fee taken by the protocol [10].

Liquidations. When an account's equity falls below maintenance margin, its positions are first sent to the order book as market orders [11]. If equity falls below two-thirds of maintenance margin, a backstop liquidation passes the position to a liquidator vault [11]. The trader loses the maintenance margin [11].

Auto-deleveraging (ADL). If an account goes negative, profitable traders on the other side can have their positions closed automatically [12]. They are ranked by profit and leverage [12]. Hyperliquid calls this "an important final safeguard on the solvency of the platform" [12].

HLP. The Hyperliquidity Provider is a protocol vault that makes markets, performs liquidations and earns part of trading fees [13]. Anyone can deposit into it, with a four-day lock-up [13].

Fees. The docs say fees go "entirely" to the community [14]: HLP, the assistance fund and market deployers [14]. The assistance fund converts its share of fees to HYPE and burns it [14]. Optional "priority fees," which buy lower latency, are also burned [15].

Listing assets: HIP-1, HIP-2 and HIP-3

• HIP-1 is the native token standard [16]. It covers capped-supply tokens with onchain spot order books [16].
• HIP-2 ("Hyperliquidity") is an automated market-making strategy for new HIP-1 tokens [17]. It is built into block processing, with no operator [17].
• HIP-3 lets outside "deployers" launch their own perp markets [18]. Deployers must stake 500,000 HYPE, and validators can slash that stake [18].

Deploying a spot token costs HYPE, set by a 31-hour Dutch auction [16].

HyperEVM

HyperEVM is "not a separate chain," but is secured by the same consensus as HyperCore [3]. Contracts can read HyperCore order-book prices through built-in precompiles [3]. The docs describe HyperEVM as in "alpha" [3]. They say "higher throughput and write system contracts are not live on mainnet yet" [3]. Throughput is split between small blocks every second and large blocks every minute [19].

USDC deposits

USDC is minted natively on Hyperliquid through Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which the docs call the "preferred method" [20][21]. The older bridge on Arbitrum is deprecated [21]. Withdrawals through it are handled "entirely by validators" [21]. Circle notes that HyperCore balances are "protocol-level credits"; the actual USDC stays in a contract on HyperEVM [22].

3. What changed

USDC replaces the bridge. Circle launched native USDC on HyperEVM on September 16, 2025, and said HyperCore support would follow [23]. Circle also said it had made its first HYPE investments and was evaluating becoming a validator [23].

HIP-3. Builder-deployed perps launched in October 2025, per Hyperliquid's own account [24]. Fee rules for HIP-3 markets now include a "growth mode," in which protocol fees are cut by 90% or more [14].

Quote assets. Under "AQAv2," stablecoin issuers can apply to become aligned quote assets [30]. In return they share reserve income with the protocol, and their deployers must stake HYPE [30]. The docs say AQAv2 will be required for quote assets on HIP-4 and validator-operated perp markets "on a future network upgrade" [30]. The USDH wind-down that followed is covered in the HIP-4 dive.

Distribution. Hyperliquid says VALR is the first centralized exchange to integrate Hyperliquid directly [28]. On September 18, 2026, Hyperliquid said manual borrowing was live on the same infrastructure as portfolio margin [29].

Regulators. On June 26, 2026, Hyperliquid said Singapore's Monetary Authority (MAS) had added it to the Investor Alert List [27]. Hyperliquid said this "does not constitute a ban, an enforcement action, or a finding of wrongdoing" [27].

4. What is open

A small, stake-weighted validator set. The active set is capped at 27 by stake [7]. The Foundation delegates to validators and can "cease delegation at any time" [5]. This dive does not report how stake is spread across validators, because Le Coin has not measured it.

No automatic slashing. Slashing is described but "currently" not automatic [6]. Validators also set oracle prices and decide HIP-3 slashing [9][18].

Oracle inputs. The oracle depends on prices from outside exchanges, weighted by validators [9]. Mark prices drive liquidations, so a bad input could trigger liquidations [9][11].

Loss sharing. ADL can close profitable positions to keep the platform solvent [12]. Traders on the winning side carry this risk, not only HLP [12][13].

HyperEVM maturity. HyperEVM is labeled alpha, and some planned features are not live [3].

Legacy bridge. The Arbitrum bridge is deprecated but still runs, and withdrawals through it are handled entirely by validators [21].

Regulatory status. Singapore's alert listing is not a finding of wrongdoing, by Hyperliquid's own account [27]. Hyperliquid says it "is not, and has never claimed to be, licensed or authorised by MAS" [27]. The docs we reviewed do not describe licensing.

What this page leaves out. By Learning Hub policy, this dive carries no price, open interest, market value or usage-volume figures, including those in Hyperliquid's posts. Those go stale, and News covers them.

Not financial advice.