Matt Hougan manages $11 billion in crypto assets as Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer. Two weeks ago his firm launched BHYP, a spot Hyperliquid ETF on the NYSE. Last week he wrote a memo arguing that everyone pricing HYPE is using the wrong number.
“Hyperliquid is not a crypto app. It is a super app. It is not targeting the $3 trillion crypto economy. It is targeting the $600 trillion global asset market. Investors are valuing it as one thing. It is the other.”
That is a 200x difference in the addressable market. If Hougan is right, HYPE is deeply undervalued. If he is wrong, he just published bullish research on an ETF he launched two weeks ago.
Both things are true simultaneously. That is the story worth understanding.
What Hyperliquid Actually Is
Most people know Hyperliquid as the crypto derivatives exchange that came out of nowhere to dominate decentralized perpetual futures. That description is already outdated.
Hyperliquid now processes $170 billion in monthly trading volume and controls more than 70% of the decentralized perp market. But the composition of that volume is what Hougan is pointing to. Non-crypto assets including S&P 500 futures, oil derivatives, and pre-IPO stocks already account for roughly 50% of perpetuals volume on the platform. Hougan expects that figure to reach 90% or higher.
Last week, Hyperliquid generated nearly 40% of all blockchain fees across the entire crypto market, outperforming both Ethereum and Solana combined. It did this while being legally inaccessible to US retail traders, who must use the BHYP ETF or similar products to get exposure.
The platform trades oil on weekends when ICE’s markets are closed. It offered SpaceX perpetual futures before the IPO. It is building infrastructure that has nothing to do with crypto in any meaningful sense.
The Valuation Argument
HYPE at $68.84, up 3.9% in 24 hours. Circulating market cap $15.3 billion, TVL $5.9 billion, 24-hour trading volume $1.16 billion. Source: CoinGecko
Hougan’s memo is specifically about how investors are pricing HYPE relative to the wrong benchmark.
If Hyperliquid is a crypto exchange, you value it against the $3 trillion crypto market. At that scale, HYPE’s current circulating market cap of $15.3 billion looks expensive. If Hyperliquid is a financial super app competing against the CME, the NYSE, and traditional asset infrastructure, you value it against a $600 trillion global asset market. At that scale, $15.3 billion is a rounding error.
Unlike most DeFi governance tokens that have loose economic connections to their platforms, the vast majority of Hyperliquid trading fees go toward buying back HYPE. Every dollar of volume the platform generates directly benefits token holders. Hougan called it a second-generation token design. We covered the HYPE buyback structure and what it means for token holders here.
BHYP, Bitwise’s spot ETF, pulled in $62 million in assets within 10 trading sessions of its NYSE debut. Hougan called that the strongest single-asset crypto ETP launch since Bitcoin. Goldman Sachs opened HYPE exposure through its Q1 2026 13F filing. Grayscale has since filed its own HYPE ETF, adding further institutional validation.
The Conflict Worth Naming
Hougan launched BHYP on May 15. He published a bullish memo on Hyperliquid on May 19. HYPE rose 19% in the week that followed.
That sequence does not make the argument wrong. It makes it worth scrutinizing carefully.
Hougan acknowledged the risks directly. He named the NYSE, CME, and rival DeFi protocols as preparing to compete with Hyperliquid. He said there is no guarantee Hyperliquid wins even if the thesis is correct. The CFTC just approved regulated bitcoin perps through Kalshi, a direct move into Hyperliquid’s core market by a compliant onshore competitor.
US investors still cannot trade directly on Hyperliquid. The platform operates offshore and outside US derivatives regulation. If Washington forces Hyperliquid to choose between registering as a swap execution facility or exiting US markets, the volume story changes.
Hougan is betting that does not happen, or that if it does, BHYP gives US investors regulated access to whatever Hyperliquid becomes on the other side of that decision.
What the Number Actually Means
HYPE rose 235% from its February low of $20.50 to $68.94 as of May 31. The 20 EMA at $64.42 is now acting as support. Source: TradingView
HYPE is up 188% in 2026, the best performing large-cap crypto asset of the year. It has done this while Bitcoin is down from $82,000 to $73,000 and the broader market is in a record ETF outflow streak.
The $600 trillion framing is deliberately provocative. Hougan is not saying Hyperliquid will capture $600 trillion in assets. He is saying the ceiling on the addressable market is not $3 trillion, which changes how you think about what a 1% or 0.1% market share looks like at scale.
Whether that framing justifies HYPE at current prices or sets up the next overhyped altcoin correction is the question every HYPE holder is currently betting on.
Hougan has $62 million in BHYP assets saying he knows which way it goes.
