Ark Invest Chief Questions Hyperliquid’s Path Into U.S. Markets
Lorenzo Valente said separating U.S. liquidity from Hyperliquid’s permissionless markets could weaken the product as real-world-asset perpetuals expand.
Ark Invest crypto-research chief Lorenzo Valente questioned whether Hyperliquid can translate its permissionless derivatives platform into a viable U.S. product without weakening the liquidity and utility that support its market.
Valente said a U.S. venue would need to separate its liquidity from Hyperliquid’s broader permissionless market, potentially creating a materially weaker product. Hyperliquid’s core markets operate on-chain, where orders, cancellations, trades and liquidations are recorded transparently.
A U.S. offering would require a regulated structure while preserving some connection to Hyperliquid’s public-market infrastructure. The structure, available markets and launch timing for any Hyperliquid-linked U.S. product remain unsettled.
Valente also questioned whether Hyperliquid’s negligible spot activity can support its ambition to become more than a large derivatives venue. The platform may be able to build a substantial derivatives business without significant spot trading, but its broader financial-system goals could be harder to achieve.
The debate comes as real-world-asset perpetuals expand rapidly. Tracked markets generated $117.3 billion in monthly volume in August 2026, up 44 times from a year earlier, while open interest reached $4.8 billion.
On-chain venues accounted for 86% of that tracked volume, or about $101 billion. Centralized exchanges handled about $16 billion. Those figures cover the tracked sample rather than the entire global market.
No final agreement or regulatory approval for a Hyperliquid-linked U.S. product has been confirmed. Any launch would still need a defined regulated structure and a decision on how it would connect with Hyperliquid’s existing markets.
