21Shares, a Switzerland-based asset management firm and issuer of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), has launched the Hyperliquid ETP on the SIX Swiss Exchange. This product allows investors to gain exposure to the Hyperliquid token without requiring wallets or onchain custody.
In a Friday announcement, the company highlighted Hyperliquid as a leading platform for decentralized derivatives, stating that it handles over $8 billion in daily trading volume, with a total of $2 trillion in trades since its launch in 2023, accounting for about 80% of decentralized perpetuals activity.
This listing, noted as the first institutional-grade offering to provide exposure to the Hyperliquid protocol, follows closely after Hyperliquid’s token (HYPE) hit a record peak of $50.99.
Mandy Chiu, head of financial product development at 21Shares, remarked that Hyperliquid’s “growth has been remarkable, and the underlying economics are some of the most compelling we’ve seen in this sector.”
Founded in 2018, 21Shares has a history of launching regulated crypto products, including the initial physically backed crypto ETP. The firm offers spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US, alongside a diverse array of crypto ETPs in Europe that includes single-asset products like Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE), as well as diversified baskets and staking-focused funds.
Related: Hyperliquid reimburses $2M to crypto traders after API outage
The rise of Hyperliquid
Launched in late 2022, Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain featuring a decentralized exchange for perpetual futures. Unlike most DeFi platforms that utilize automated market makers, it employs a traditional onchain order book that directly matches buy and sell orders, clearing trades in under a second without reliance on external oracles or off-chain infrastructure.
Users connect via wallets to place spot or perpetual orders, which are settled natively onchain. Trading fees contribute to daily buybacks of the HYPE token, the protocol’s native currency.
This model has spurred rapid growth, with Hyperliquid achieving records in trading volume, revenue, and user engagement over recent months.
In July, the exchange processed $319 billion in trades, marking the highest monthly volume ever recorded for a DeFi perpetuals platform and helping push total decentralized perp volume to almost $487 billion, according to DefiLlama. That month, it also accounted for 35% of all blockchain revenue, a share that analysts at VanEck noted came at the expense of Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain.
The platform has emerged as the seventh-largest derivatives exchange overall by daily activity, amassing over 600,000 registered users in July. Despite a 37-minute outage on July 29 that temporarily affected trading, Hyperliquid refunded $2 million in losses, receiving commendations from its community for the prompt action.
Nonetheless, worries about Hyperliquid’s market integrity surfaced on Wednesday, when four large traders pocketed nearly $48 million in what appeared to be manipulation of Plasma’s XPL token. The token briefly surged 200% to $1.80 before smaller traders incurred significant losses.
Nevertheless, optimism surrounding the protocol’s long-term outlook persists. During the WebX 2025 conference in Tokyo, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, recognized for his bold and occasionally controversial market predictions, indicated that he anticipates the platform’s native token to increase 126-fold within three years, citing the growth of stablecoins and the exchange’s rising fee revenue.
Magazine: TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in RWAs — Inside story
