Hyperliquid: The Decentralized Nasdaq Financial infrastructure is evolving. While Nasdaq pioneered electronic trading and orderbook technology, Hyperliquid takes the next step: a neutral, permissionless protocol layer where anyone can build, list, and trade. Same efficiency, different architecture. Think of it as the TCP/IP of finance—infrastructure so fundamental that everything else gets built on top. What is Nasdaq? Before we talk about why Hyperliquid is better, let's understand what Nasdaq actually does: Nasdaq is a platform that provides: • Spot market for stocks (buy and own shares of companies) • Infrastructure for trading (orderbooks, matching engine, clearing) • Listing process for companies (IPOs, standards, compliance) • Derivatives market via partners (futures, options through CME) The limitation? Everything lives under one roof. The protocol, the listing, the access, the frontend, the compliance, all controlled by a single entity. This creates: • Single point of failure • Easy censorship (governments can force delistings) • Centralized control (regulatory pressure can force delistings) • No competition on UX (one interface for all users) • Bundled pricing (can't separate infrastructure costs from compliance costs) Enter Hyperliquid: The Modular Financial Stack Hyperliquid takes a radically different approach by separating the protocol layer from the application layer. The Protocol Layer (Permissionless Infrastructure) HYPERLIQUID L1 (HyperCore) • Native orderbooks (200k orders/sec) • Matching engine (on-chain) • Margin system (cross + isolated) • Liquidation engine • 0.2s median latency Permissionless • Neutral • 24/7 What lives on the protocol: • HIP-1: Spot tokens (like stocks, but tokenized) • Native perps: BTC-USD, ETH-USD, SOL-USD, etc. • HIP-3: Builder-deployed perps (anyone can list derivatives) What doesn't: • KYC/AML enforcement • Token filtering or censorship • Frontend interface • User onboarding The Application Layer (Competitive Frontends) Frontends compete on: • User experience (UX/UI) • Fee structure (builder codes) • Compliance level (KYC vs no-KYC) • Target audience (institutions vs retail vs niche communities) • Features (AI trading assistants, social trading, gamification) Why This Changes Everything 1. True Permissionlessness Nasdaq: Need approval from Nasdaq Inc. to list. Expensive ($50k-$500k+ in fees), slow (months), and requires meeting strict standards. Hyperliquid: Anyone can list via Dutch auction. • HIP-1 tokens: 500 HYPE auction every 31 hours • HIP-3 perps: First 3 assets free, then 500 HYPE auction • No gatekeepers, no approval process, no lobbying needed Example: Want to create a spot for your niche community token? Just win the auction and deploy. Done. 2. Censorship Resistance Nasdaq: Can delist assets based on regulatory pressure, compliance issues, or internal decisions. Once delisted, trading stops entirely. Hyperliquid: Once deployed, tokens and perps stay on-chain forever. The protocol is neutral—it doesn't care what you list or who you are. Important distinction: Frontends can choose to hide certain tokens from their interface, but the tokens remain tradeable on-chain. This is like how Gmail can filter emails, but the email protocol (SMTP) doesn't censor content. 3. Separation of Compliance and Infrastructure This is the genius move that makes Hyperliquid scale to billions of users. Traditional model (Nasdaq): • Protocol + Compliance = One package • Everyone must KYC → High friction → Excludes billions Hyperliquid model: Protocol (neutral) ≠ Compliance (optional at frontend level) Frontend A: Strict KYC → Institutional users Frontend B: No KYC → DeFi natives Frontend C: Light KYC → Retail users Same infrastructure, different compliance levels Why this matters: • Institutions can use compliant frontends (satisfies regulators) • DeFi natives can use permissionless frontends (preserves decentralization) • Everyone trades on the same liquidity pool (network effects) 4. 24/7 Global Markets Nasdaq: • Trading hours: 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM EST • Monday-Friday only • Closed on holidays • Extended hours available but with low liquidity Hyperliquid: • 24/7/365 • No holidays • No "market closed" (even for TradFi assets like XYZ100) • Same liquidity at 3 AM as at 3 PM Innovation: XYZ Perps XYZ100 (Nasdaq-100 index perp) trades 24/7 even when US equity markets are closed. How? Internal pricing mechanism: • When external markets are open: Uses Pyth oracle (CME futures data) • When external markets are closed: Uses 8-hour EMA of mark price + orderbook impact price • Smooth transition when markets reopen This is revolutionary. You can trade exposure to Apple, Microsoft, Tesla at 2 AM on a Sunday. No other platform offers this. 5. Builder Ecosystem via Builder Codes Nasdaq: Limited or no revenue share with third-party interfaces. If you build a trading app that routes orders, you typically make money from subscriptions or payment-for-order-flow, not direct fee sharing from the exchange Hyperliquid: Builder codes let frontends earn a percentage of trading fees. How it works: // User trades 100,000 USDC notional // Base fee: 0.045% = $45 // Builder code: 0.02% = $20 to frontend // Net user fee: 0.065% // Frontend earns revenue directly from facilitating trades This creates a flywheel: 1. Better frontends attract more users 2. More users = more volume = more revenue for frontend 3. More revenue = more resources to improve UX 4. Better UX = more users (repeat) Result: Explosion of innovation at the application layer. We'll see hundreds of specialized frontends, each optimizing for different use cases. 6. Complete Market Stack Hyperliquid isn't just spot or just derivatives—it's everything. Nasdaq ecosystem: • Nasdaq: Spot stocks • CME: Futures and options (separate entity) • CBOE: More options (another separate entity) 7. Performance That Matches (or Beats) CEXs Hyperliquid benchmarks: • Throughput: 200k orders/second (current), millions planned • Latency: 0.2s median, 0.9s p99 (comparable to major CEXs) • Finality: 1 block (<1 second) • Uptime: 99.9%+ All of this, fully on-chain. No off-chain orderbooks, no trusted intermediaries, no shortcuts. 8. Composability with DeFi Nasdaq: Walled garden. If you want to build something that uses Nasdaq data or infrastructure, you need expensive licenses and permissions. Hyperliquid: Open protocol. HyperEVM lets you build anything: Examples: • Lending protocols that use Hyperliquid spot prices for liquidations • Automated trading vaults that rebalance based on funding rates • Prediction markets that settle against Hyperliquid perp prices • Social trading platforms where you copy top traders All permissionless. No approval needed. Real-World Example: XYZ Perps XYZ is the first HIP-3 deployment, and it's already proving the model works. XYZ100 (Nasdaq-100 Index Perp): • Tracks the top 100 non-financial companies on Nasdaq (AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA, etc.) • Uses Pyth oracle for CME futures prices • Converts futures to spot using cost-of-carry model • 24/7 trading even when US equity markets are closed • Isolated margin only (for now) Why this matters: • First decentralized way to get 24/7 exposure to US equities • Proof that TradFi assets can trade on-chain with robust pricing • Opens the door to thousands more TradFi perps (individual stocks, commodities, forex, indices) What's next for XYZ: • Individual stock perps (AAPL-USD, TSLA-USD, NVDA-USD) • More indices (S&P 500, Dow Jones, Russell 2000) • International equities (Nikkei, DAX, FTSE) • Commodities (gold, oil, natural gas) Why Hyperliquid Wins: The TCP/IP Analogy What TCP/IP did for the internet: • Created a neutral protocol layer (anyone can send packets) • Enabled permissionless innovation (anyone can build apps) • Separated infrastructure from applications (Gmail vs SMTP) • Made the internet censorship-resistant What Hyperliquid does for finance: • Creates a neutral protocol layer (anyone can list and trade) • Enables permissionless innovation (anyone can build frontends) • Separates infrastructure from compliance (protocol vs frontends) • Makes finance censorship-resistant The Trilemma Solution Traditional systems can't achieve all three: Permissionless ▲ ╱ ╼ ╱ ╲ ╱ ╲ ╱ ╲ ╱ ╲ Compliant ──────── Performant Nasdaq: ✅ Compliant (strict KYC/AML) ✅ Performant (low latency) ❌ Permissionless (high barriers to entry) Hyperliquid: ✅ Permissionless (protocol level) ✅ Compliant (frontend level, optional) ✅ Performant (200k orders/sec, <0.2s latency) This is the breakthrough. By separating the layers, Hyperliquid solves the trilemma. What This Means for You If you're a trader: • Access to any asset, any time, from anywhere • Choose your frontend based on your needs (KYC vs no-KYC, fees, UX) • Trade with confidence (all transactions on-chain, auditable) If you're a builder: • Free infrastructure (orderbooks, matching engine, clearing) • Monetize via builder codes (earn fees from trades) • Focus on product, not infrastructure • Launch fast, iterate quickly If you're a project: • Permissionless listing (no gatekeepers) • Guaranteed liquidity (HIP-2 Hyperliquidity) • Exposure across all frontends • No politics, just auction price Nasdaq is a company that controls a trading platform. Hyperliquid is a protocol that enables infinite trading platforms. This isn't just a decentralized version of Nasdaq. It's what Nasdaq would look like if it were built from first principles in 2025, with everything we've learned about the internet, open protocols, and permissionless innovation. The future of finance isn't one platform to rule them all. It's a neutral infrastructure layer where thousands of platforms compete to serve users better. That infrastructure layer is Hyperliquid. Sources: docs.trade.xyz/about-trade-x… hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyper… listingcenter.nasdaq.com/ cmegroup.com/markets/equitie…

Most TWAPs on Hyperliquid are buying right now. 456 running, $40.6M left to buy against $7.8M left to sell. Most of that buy side is $31.7M on $SKHX , a HIP-3 market, from two TWAPs with more than two days left. hyperliquid:native is the exception: $3.75M net left to sell, mostly spot. liquidterminal.xyz/dashboard Hyperliquid.

Hypedexer will be in Singapore from October 4 to 9. If you build on Hyperliquid and want to talk data, our DMs are open. Let's meet.

Trust me, follow @sentralcash. Hyperliquid.

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