@hucker
The Perps Proving Ground
While the market and trading activity are down, when attempting to make sense of HYPE underperformance, it's important not to discount how much the perps landscape has evolved alongside Hyperliquid itself.
Lighter and Aster are just examples of onchain competition. And while their volume is likely inflated by airdrop hunting, they offer real alternatives. Offchain, Coinbase’s perps offerings will soon be joined by Robinhood play here. More competitors will emerge as perpetuals continue going mainstream.
In other words, Hyperliquid is in the midst of its proving ground and will continue to be in 2026. The question isn't whether it had a remarkable 2025 — it certainly did. The question is whether the exchange can demonstrate that its model, of growing via integrations like builder codes and decentralization like HIP-3, remains superior as the field gets crowded.
What got them here was building a better product and better ecosystem, and doing so without shortcuts. What keeps them
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