In a very small and at least so far unknown corner of the crypto market, investors are flocking in rather than making their way there. So-called HYPE exchange-traded funds are raising new assets from investors at a time when the leading crypto bets, including Bitcoin And etherrefuel.
In May, Bitwise and 21shares launched spot ETFs that track indices for HYPE, a decentralized crypto asset that runs on its own blockchain, Hyperliquid. The products traded under the tickers BHYP And TYPEhave raised nearly $150 million in assets and have seen mostly positive net inflow days since their launch, which caught the attention of Nate Geraci, President of NovaDius Wealth Management.
Grayscale launched its own Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF (HYPG) on Wednesday.
“This is a market that is already 1% penetrated. Most people still don’t know what hyperliquid is,” Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan told CNBC.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized, perpetual futures exchange based on blockchain. The company operates 24/7 for retailers outside of the United States. It existed quietly until the U.S.-Iran war last summer left traders struggling to access weekend oil markets. Volume quickly reached about $1 billion a day in crude oil alone, said Stephen Coltman, vice president and head of macro at 21shares.
For a token that most financial advisors and investors had never heard of a month ago, the reception has been hard to ignore, especially at a time when Bitcoin is experiencing a sharp sell-off. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have been hemorrhaging assets. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (It will work), for example, ended the week with a loss of around 16%.
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The HYPE inflows are less likely to be a move away from existing cryptocurrencies and more of investors switching to something truly new.
“Hyperliquid brings new investors from outside the crypto ecosystem into this particular digital asset. I think it appeals to a very different type of investor than Bitcoin,” said Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale.
Pandl said investors are attracted to a revenue model they can understand. Most crypto tokens have an indirect relationship to the underlying platform activity, but Hyperliquid is different.
“In the case of Hyperliquid, 99% of the fees generated on the platform go towards buying back HYPE, the asset,” Hougan said. “There is a very tight loop between activity in the crypto space and the value of the hyperliquid asset,” Hougan said.
This is a market mechanism that traditional stock investors would immediately recognize: the practice of public companies using their money to buy back their own shares. “It is very similar to a stock buyback where all trade is generated and used to buy back the token,” Coltman said.
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Performance of hyperliquid ETFs since their introduction in May 2026.
The ETF experts say these funds are a convenient entry point for investors looking to get involved without the complexities of setting up a digital wallet or navigating a decentralized exchange.
As of Friday, the just-launched Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF had $4.5 million in assets. The 21shares Hyperliquid ETF manages $75.8 million in assets, while the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF manages $71.14 million.
Geraci said that as investors become more familiar with hyperliquidity through ETFs, it is expected that the products could help accelerate mainstream adoption of the platform itself.
“I see spot crypto ETFs as an important bridge between TradFi [traditional finance] and DeFi [decentralized finance]. “Although it is difficult to determine the degree of overlap between HYPE ETF investors and Hyperliquid users, the ETFs undoubtedly increase the exposure of the platform,” he wrote in an email to CNBC.
However, ETF experts warned that awareness is still low, competition is widespread and risks remain high.
Pointing to its track record, 21shares listed a HYPE product in Europe in August 2025. Grayscale has the lowest expense ratio at 0.29%, compared to 21shares at 0.30% and Bitwise at 0.34%. Bitwise maintains close relationships with family offices.
“The biggest challenge for Hyperliquid could be increasing competition from TradFi and DeFi, a dynamic that could reinforce a more favorable regulatory environment,” Geraci wrote.
The platform remains unavailable in the U.S., but Pandl said he expects approval in 2027, which he described as “a reasonable timeline for when we could have sufficient regulatory clarity on decentralized exchanges so that U.S. users could begin accessing the platform.”
The landscape could be significantly more crowded by then. The rapid growth story of hyperliquid ETF assets shows that some investors are not waiting.
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