The recent announcements by U.S.-listed companies Lion Group Holding and Eyenovia to include Hyperliquid's native token, HYPE, in their balance sheets mark a significant milestone. This is the first time a native token from an emerging DeFi project has been listed as a strategic reserve asset in traditional capital markets, following major cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. This institutional endorsement highlights the security, stability, and economic model behind HYPE, signaling that Hyperliquid is evolving from an on-chain trading protocol into a contender for "digital asset financial infrastructure."
This article explores how Hyperliquid's Builder Code drives protocol revenue and ecosystem expansion, and how its token buyback mechanism builds a valuation model for HYPE.
Builder Code: A Revenue Engine for the Open Trading Ecosystem
For those unfamiliar with Hyperliquid, Builder Code is a mechanism that allows developers to charge fees for orders executed on behalf of users. As per the official documentation, it enables applications built on Hyperliquid to earn fees based on the transaction volume they generate. Any platform can integrate Builder Code, requiring users to sign a transaction authorizing the fee mechanism before trading. This process is fully managed on-chain within the fee logic.
The protocol currently allows maximum fees of 0.1% for perpetual contracts and 1% for spot trading. While a 1% spot fee might seem high and hasn't seen widespread adoption yet, it could become standard as more long-tail assets are listed on Hyperliquid. For example, Axiom, which focuses on meme coin trading on Solana, generates over $1 million daily from its 1% interface fee. Although most of this revenue currently comes from Solana, it is expected to shift to Hyperliquid as more spot deployments occur on the platform.
Leading Applications and Future Directions
Builder Code revenue is growing rapidly but is still in its early stages, having accumulated around $9.5 million so far. Among the contributors, @pvp_dot_trade leads with approximately $7.2 million, making it the most profitable builder currently. However, this is just the beginning.
Over 22 new developers have started participating in the Builder Code ecosystem, driving more transaction traffic to Hyperliquid. @okto_web3 is one of the closest to a true consumer product, though its current Builder Code revenue is only $662,000. This figure could change significantly in the future due to its reach beyond Hyperliquid.
It's important to note that Okto remains a typical crypto-native application, while Liquid and Lootbase target a broader user market with a Robinhood-like trading experience, which could be more appealing. Initially, one might expect Builder Code to be adopted only by existing crypto interfaces (like Axiom) to leverage Hyperliquid's underlying infrastructure. However, trends from Liquid and Lootbase suggest this assumption may need revision.
Hyperliquid is not just a perpetual contract DEX but also a trading infrastructure. This will become clearer as more major trading platforms choose to connect to Hyperliquid's Builder Code rather than competing head-to-head. In this model, platforms no longer need to build their own markets or source liquidity to list new coins. Instead, they can obtain permissionless listings through Hyperliquid's spot deployment and upcoming HIP-3 proposals, then integrate Builder Code to build optimal interfaces and user experiences, generating significant revenue like Axiom and PvP Trade.
The future of Builder Code depends on opting-in large interface platforms with strong distribution capabilities that want to avoid the costs and risks of building their own markets.
Robinhood and Hyperliquid Builder Code: A Potential Partnership
Robinhood, a traditional fintech company而非原生加密货币公司, offers a viable path if it wishes to accelerate cryptocurrency asset adoption in applications and enable large-scale fee revenue capture. In January 2025 alone, Robinhood reported $144.7 billion in stock trading volume, 166.6 million options contracts, and $20.4 billion in crypto asset trading volume.
This topic might deserve a separate in-depth analysis, but it's foreseeable that Robinhood would only need to invest about 1 million HYPE (a negligible amount of its funding) to start deploying its own marketplace based on Hyperliquid's proven infrastructure, optimized for perpetual contracts, and capture fee revenue at the interface level through Builder Code integration.
For Robinhood, this architectural decision could save months or even years in development cycles, as well as millions in technology costs. The Hyperliquid community handles the low-level work, allowing Robinhood to focus on user experience.
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HYPE Token Valuation Analysis
Builder Code demonstrates Hyperliquid's monetization capabilities at the infrastructure level. If Builder Code is the front-end "distribution layer" driving the prosperity of the trading ecosystem, then the HYPE token is the primary value vector of this system. This analysis attempts to value the HYPE token by comparing Hyperliquid's protocol-funded buybacks to those of traditional public companies.
Using payment processing companies like Visa and Mastercard as a conservative reference group, the methodology gives an implied valuation of $25.9 billion for HYPE (approximately $76/HYPE, up 72% from the current price of $44). Notably, this valuation does not yet include the widespread use of HYPE as a native Layer 1 asset.
Quantifying Capital Returns
Based on on-chain data from the 30 days leading to June 16, 2025, the Hyperliquid protocol had an average daily buyback of $1.63 million. Extrapolating from this, its quarterly buybacks totaled approximately $146.4 million.
To evaluate market valuation using similar cash flows, we refer to the "market capitalization/quarterly buyback amount" multiple of publicly listed companies. This multiple reflects the market value that investors are willing to assign to each dollar of buyback, which varies significantly across sectors, indicating market confidence in growth and stability.
Comparison of multiples by sector:
- Tech Giants (average multiple: 296x): Companies like NVIDIA and Google are highly valued due to strong growth, technological innovation, and market dominance.
- Payments Sector (average multiple: 177x): Examples include Visa and Mastercard. As financial infrastructure with strong network effects and high profitability, their multiples are stable and high.
- Banking Sector (average multiple: 73.3x): Mature institutions like JPMorgan and Bank of America have slower growth and high regulatory pressures, leading to lower valuation multiples.
Among these comparisons, the payments sector best aligns with Hyperliquid's business model. Like Visa or Mastercard, Hyperliquid is a critical piece of financial system infrastructure: with high profit margins, its business model is directly tied to transaction volume, and network effects continue to grow—more users and liquidity increase the platform's value.
Although HYPE can be analogized to tech companies in some respects, using tech sector multiples might lead to overvaluation and lack practical benchmarks. In contrast, the payments sector offers more conservative and comparable multiples.
Applying the payments industry multiple, the implied valuation of HYPE is as follows:
- Estimated Quarterly Buyback: $146.4 million
- Payments Industry Multiple: 177x
- Implied Valuation: $146.4 million × 177 = $25.9 billion
- Per HYPE Price: Approximately $76 (up about 72% from the current $44).
Note: $44 was the value of HYPE at the time of publication.
This valuation is not only significant but also highly conservative. It is based on a single metric and deliberately ignores other multiple sources of value that HYPE possesses. Why is this valuation conservative?
- Focus on a Single Dimension: The model does not account for the value premium of HYPE as a high-performance Layer 1 native token, its role in the governance mechanism, or the utility of future staking rewards.
- Based on Historical Data: The data used are based on performance from the last 30 days only and do not consider the potential attraction of Hyperliquid's future revenue growth or increased market share on the buyback amount.
The model uses the average valuation multiple of the payments industry to avoid the high multiples common in the tech industry, ensuring a prudent assessment.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hyperliquid's Builder Code?
Builder Code is a mechanism that allows developers to charge fees for orders executed on behalf of users on the Hyperliquid platform. It enables applications to generate revenue based on transaction volume, with fees managed on-chain. This fosters ecosystem growth by incentivizing developers to build on Hyperliquid.
How does the HYPE token derive its value?
HYPE's value is supported by the protocol's buyback mechanism, which uses revenue to purchase and potentially burn tokens. This creates deflationary pressure and aligns with traditional valuation models based on cash flows, similar to how public companies are evaluated.
Why is Hyperliquid compared to payment companies like Visa?
Hyperliquid is likened to payment infrastructure due to its high-profit margins, network effects, and revenue model tied to transaction volume. This comparison provides a conservative benchmark for valuation, focusing on stable and predictable cash flows.
Can traditional companies like Robinhood benefit from Hyperliquid?
Yes, traditional fintech firms can leverage Hyperliquid's infrastructure to quickly enter the crypto market without building their own trading systems. This saves development time and costs while allowing them to capture fee revenue through interface integration.
What factors could increase HYPE's valuation beyond the current model?
Additional value drivers include HYPE's utility as a Layer 1 asset, governance rights, staking rewards, and expanded ecosystem adoption. These factors are not captured in the conservative payments-based model but could significantly enhance long-term valuation.
How does Hyperliquid ensure security and stability for institutional adoption?
Hyperliquid's on-chain management, transparent fee mechanisms, and proven infrastructure provide a secure environment. Institutional adoption, as seen with Lion Group and Eyenovia, validates its reliability and economic model.
Summary: Buyback Framework Provides a Clear Valuation "Floor" for HYPE
While no single approach can capture the full value of crypto assets, valuations anchored by robust protocol buybacks combined with real cash flows provide HYPE with a data-driven value reference. As the Hyperliquid ecosystem continues to grow, this valuation "floor" is expected to rise steadily.