Arthur Hayes Says Crypto Protocols Should Follow Hyperliquid’s Revenue Model

Arthur Hayes is pushing crypto protocols toward a narrower success formula built around real users, actual revenue and token economics that return value to holders. His latest line is direct: projects that can combine those pieces should “be like Hyperliquid.”

The argument places Hyperliquid at the center of a broader token-design debate. Hayes has repeatedly praised the decentralized perpetuals exchange for avoiding venture-capital allocations, distributing a large share of HYPE to users and routing protocol economics toward the token instead of relying only on narrative, incentives or future promises.

In his earlier $HYPE Man thesis, Hayes described Hyperliquid as one of the strongest revenue-generating crypto projects outside stablecoins, with most revenue directed toward market purchases of HYPE. The model gives the token a clearer connection to exchange activity than many altcoins, where usage, revenue and token value often remain loosely connected.

No VC Allocation Strengthens The Token Story

Hyperliquid’s token launch has become a reference point because it avoided the private-allocation structure that still defines much of crypto. The Hyper Foundation describes the HYPE setup around “no investors,” no paid market makers and a community-first distribution model.

That structure reduced the overhang that often follows large private rounds. Many token launches enter the market with early investors, market makers and team allocations waiting behind the first public float. Hyperliquid instead pushed a much larger share of the supply directly to users through its genesis distribution.

HYPE’s launch distributed 31% of supply to eligible users, making the airdrop one of the largest in DeFi. That community-heavy launch helped create a different kind of alignment, especially once the protocol’s trading business began generating large fee numbers after the token went live.

Revenue Keeps HYPE Tied To Usage

Hyperliquid’s revenue model remains the core of Hayes’ argument. DeFiLlama’s Hyperliquid methodology tracks 99% of perps fees going to the Assistance Fund for buying HYPE, excluding builder fees. The same fee-routing structure applies to spot orderbook revenue, excluding certain unit protocol fees.

That gives HYPE a mechanism tied to trading demand rather than only ecosystem branding. The stronger the exchange’s activity, the more important its fee engine becomes for the token’s market structure. The model also explains why Hyperliquid’s 30-day fees recently topped Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain combined, turning the protocol into one of crypto’s most closely watched revenue assets.

The builder layer adds another distribution channel. Phantom recently became the top revenue-generating builder on Hyperliquid, showing how wallets, bots and trading frontends can route order flow into the same liquidity base while building their own fee businesses.