Hyperliquid RWA Trading Surges, But Fees Are Being Diverted to External Developers as HYPE Revenue Continues to Shrink

Odaily News – Hyperliquid's RWA perpetual contract trading is growing rapidly, yet platform revenue continues to decline, creating a divergence of "record-high trading volume versus shrinking retained revenue." Data shows that Hyperliquid's open interest climbed to approximately $11 billion on July 13, hitting a new high for 2026, with perpetual contract trading volume over the past 30 days nearing $178 billion, and its share of global perpetual open interest rising to around 9%. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid's protocol revenue has declined for four consecutive quarters, dropping from roughly $357 million in Q3 2025 to about $202 million in Q2 2026, down approximately 43% from its peak.

Analysts attribute this primarily to the HIP-3 mechanism, which allows external developers staking 500,000 HYPE to create their own perpetual markets and earn up to 50% of trading fees. In early 2026, developer-deployed markets accounted for only about 2% of Hyperliquid's perpetual trading volume; that figure has now risen to roughly half, meaning an increasing share of trading revenue is being distributed to external developers.

Since approximately 97% of Hyperliquid's trading fees are used to buy back HYPE, the decline in platform revenue directly translates to shrinking buyback scale. As of Friday, HYPE was trading at around $55, down about 28% from its all-time high of roughly $77 on June 16. Meanwhile, core contributors unlocked nearly 10 million HYPE on August 6, valued at approximately $550 million at then-prevailing prices, with subsequent unlock schedules continuing through 2027.

Overall, Hyperliquid's trading activity is still growing rapidly, but the revenue diversion caused by HIP-3 is weakening the platform's own earnings growth and HYPE buyback support. The boom in its RWA business has yet to fully translate into earnings growth for HYPE holders. (CoinDesk)