Arthur Hayes and Hanson Birringer on Hyperliquid’s Success (And What Could Stop It) - Ep. 852

Unchained

Hyperliquid is one of the most talked-about platforms in crypto right now.

It’s an onchain perpetuals exchange that sidestepped VCs, built a deeply loyal user base, and launched with transparency most rivals avoid. But it’s also staring down some massive challenges—from incoming competitors like Coinbase and Robinhood, to the technical hurdles of decentralizing its core exchange engine.

Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom and one of crypto’s most iconic traders, and Hanson Birringer of Flowdesk discuss:

• What actually drove Hyperliquid’s success

• How a user-first approach is outpacing venture-backed models

• Whether the James Wynn saga was legit

• Why the HIP-3 proposal could be the “holy grail” for DEXes

• And whether Hyperliquid can survive its next big test: the entrance of giants

Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Xapo Bank

• Bitwise

  Guests:

• Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom

• Hanson Birringer, Head of US Sales at Flowdesk

Links

Stats:

• CoinGlass: Total BTC Futures Open Interest

• Hyperliquid Stats

James Wynn

• Unchained: Hyperliquid Trader Makes $87M in 70 Days, Loses It In Five

• James Wynn’s address

Transparency

• Hyperliquid’s founder’s post on X saying that he felt like transparency results in better execution for whales compared to on private venues.

Hyperliquid vs Binance:

• Unchained: Hyperliquid Saved Itself a $15 Million Loss, but Sparked Criticism

• Arthur Hayes’ tweet on whether $HYPE perp volumes will flip Binance’s this cycle.

• CZ’s tweet on dark pool DEXs

• Cointelegraph: Binance co-founder CZ proposes dark pool DEXs to tackle manipulation

Tokenomics:

• DL News: Hyperliquid’s token buyback machine just hit $1b — is it sustainable?

HIP-3:

• Hyperliquid Docs: HIP-3: Builder-Deployed Perpetuals

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔥 3:25 Why Arthur says the future of perps is onchain—and what that changes

🚀 6:58 How Hyperliquid managed to climb the ranks without VCs

🧱 9:45 Whether being its own L1 gives Hyperliquid an edge

🔍 12:44 How Hanson adapts market making in a fully transparent environment

🕵️‍♂️ 16:40 Why Arthur doesn’t buy the James Wynn story

💸 20:56 Whether the types of traders on Hyperliquid are different than on other venues

⚔️ 22:14 How Hyperliquid could defend itself when Coinbase and Robinhood enter the arena

🔐 26:18 What Arthur and Hanson think about Jeff Yan’s post saying transparency benefits users

🐙 32:59 Did Binance and OKX try to sabotage Hyperliquid during the $JELLY event?

📊 38:24 Arthur answers his own question of whether Hyperliquid takes on Binance’s trading volume

🌘 42:20 Whether dark pool DEXes can fix transparency without killing decentralization

🔧 47:15 Why Hanson thinks the security FUD around Hyperliquid is overblown

🌏 50:20 Whether Asia’s crypto communities care less about decentralization

🧠 52:34 How Hyperliquid’s ecosystem play with HyperEVM could reshape its future

🏆 55:52 Why Arthur calls HIP-3 the “holy grail” for DEXes

🪙 1:00:01 Whether the HYPE buyback program is a good idea

📈 1:02:49 What Hyperliquid must get right as Coinbase and Robinhood show up

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