Arthur Hayes, Bitmex co-founder, who now serves as co-founder and chief investment manager for cryptophocused venture capital company Maelstrom, says Hyperliquids Hype-token could hover more than 100 times.
Hayes is best known for inventing the eternal swap on the bitmex, the derivatives contract that changed crypto trade. At Maelstrom he invests in infrastructure projects in the early stages. In his latest blog post, Hayes argued that Hyperliquid’s token could rise 126 times, a requirement supported by a valuation model produced by Maelstrom.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange built on its own blockchain. Unlike Coinbase or Binance, which are companies running private servers, Hyperliquid lives fully on chain. Dealers use it mainly for eternal futures – contracts that let them bet on crypto prices without expiry date.
Its native token, Hype, acts as both a government tool and an economic share. Holders can vote on upgrades, spell for rewards and take advantage of the way commercial fees link to token’s value. In short, Hyperliquid is the venue and hype is how users share in its growth.
‘Decentralized Binance’
Hayes begins his case with the big picture.
He says that when governments print too much money, currencies lose value, and ordinary savors are forced to speculate just to maintain their standard of living. Those who do not already own houses or shares see their savings eroded.
For many, especially in new markets, is the easiest way to save today with stableecoins like USDT and USDC – digital dollars that sit native on blockchains. When you hold stableecoins, Hayes claims, the most obvious place to put them into work is crypto yourself, as it is the system where these tokens most function.
According to Maelstrom CIO, this funnel leads directly to Hyperliquid. Hayes says it already dominates decentralized eternal futures trade, controls about two -thirds of the market and begins to grow against centralized giants as binance.
He points to execution as the difference. He believes that Hyperliquid’s small team, led by founder Jeff Yan, ships have faster than rivals with hundreds of employees. The platform feels as fast as Binance, says Hayes, but every step-trading, settlement, security management-lovers transparent on-chain.
He calls Hyperliquid a “Decentral Binance.” Like Binance, it depends on stableecoins instead of banks for deposits. Unlike Binance, everything is recorded on its blockchain. Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 upgrade also allows outside developers to create brand new markets that are connected directly in its order book, making it a permitted trade hub.
126x upward
Then comes the math. Maelstrom’s model starts with a bold prognosis: By 2028, the total value of stableecoin could reach $ 10 trillion.
Next, Hayes lends a relationship from Binance’s history. On this exchange, the daily trading volume has often equalized approx. 26.4% of the total stablecoin supply. Apply the ratio of $ 10 trillion and Hyperliquid could see about $ 2.6 trillion in trades every day.
Now add fees. Hyperliquid charges about 0.03% per Trade. At 2.6 trillion dollars in daily activity it works for approx. $ 258 billion in annual revenue when you roll it up over the year.
Investors then reduce future revenue in today’s money to reflect the risk and time value of money. Hayes uses a rate of 5%, producing a present value of approx. $ 5.16 trillion.
Finally, it stabbed against Hype’s current fully diluted valuation of about $ 41 billion. Share the two and you will get Haye’s heading number: A potential 126x upside.
He ties the calculation back to his wider dissertation – that weak money forces people to stableecoins, and stablecoins push them into crypto specations, with hyperliquid as the rails of this activity and hype like the token catching the economy.
‘The king is dead’
Hayes closes his dissertation with a bold prediction. “The king is dead. Long live the king,” he wrote, arguing that Hyperliquid could surpass Binance as the world’s greatest exchange and that one day Jeff Yan could compete with CZ’s wealth.
The model depends on large assumptions: a $ 10 trillion stablecoin market, Hyperliquid, which has a share at Binance level, fees of 0.03% and discount rates remain low. If these conditions break, the result does so too.
But Haye’s throughline is simple. If the world saves in stableecoins, speculation that follows will happen on-chain and in his opinion Hyperliquid is already at the forefront.
