What is a Hyperliquid ETF?

A Hyperliquid ETF is a regulated fund that holds HYPE, Hyperliquid's native token, and trades on a U.S. stock exchange. A share gives exposure to HYPE's price through an ordinary brokerage account, with no wallet, private key, or exchange to manage. A custodian holds the tokens, and the share price tracks the HYPE it represents, the same wrapper behind spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

Three spot funds reached the market in 2026, all within three weeks. The 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (THYP) listed first on Nasdaq on 12 May, the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP) followed on the NYSE on 15 May, and the Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF (HYPG) arrived on Nasdaq on 3 June. All three hold HYPE directly and register under the Securities Act of 1933, not the Investment Company Act of 1940.

HYPE reached these funds by a harder path than Solana or XRP. The SEC's September 2025 generic listing standards favour tokens with a CFTC-regulated futures history, which HYPE lacks, so the funds could not use that fast track. Issuers cleared the standard review instead, Bitwise filing first in September 2025 and Grayscale last in March.

How HYPE Captures Protocol Revenue

What pulled issuers toward HYPE so fast is a token that behaves more like equity than most cryptocurrencies. Hyperliquid runs the largest decentralised perpetuals exchange, and almost all of its fees feed an on-chain Assistance Fund that buys HYPE on the open market and removes it from circulation. Cumulative buybacks have passed $1 billion, tying the token's value to trading activity rather than speculation.

The revenue scale is unusual for a token its age. Hyperliquid handled roughly $2.9 trillion in perpetuals volume in 2025 and holds close to 60% of all on-chain derivatives open interest. HYPE launched in November 2024 through an airdrop, with the founding team taking no venture capital and sending most of the supply to the community.

That model has set HYPE apart from the market. As major tokens fell through the first half of the year, HYPE climbed to a record high above $75 in early June. Our Hyperliquid statistics track its volume, fees, and open interest live.

How Hyperliquid ETF Staking Works

HYPE can be staked to help secure the Hyperliquid network, and each fund is built to pass a share of those rewards to investors. The yield is modest. Grayscale cites stakingrewards.com data putting HYPE's historical return near 2.2% a year, well below networks like Solana, though it comes from protocol participation rather than token inflation.

The funds stake differently. Bitwise runs staking in-house and keeps a reserve unstaked for redemptions, 21Shares stakes part of THYP through Anchorage Digital and BitGo, and Grayscale built staking into HYPG with activation tied to further regulatory clarity. Each issuer takes a cut, so the staking fee matters as much as the headline expense ratio.

Staking layers risk on top of price exposure. Tokens committed to validators can face lock-ups, downtime, and slashing penalties that cut the staked balance, all flagged in the fund prospectuses.

Are Hyperliquid ETFs Safe?

These funds remove the operational hazards of self-custody. Regulated custodians hold the tokens, with Anchorage Digital, BitGo and Coinbase Custody named across the three products, and the shares trade under securities rules.

The wrapper does nothing to soften HYPE's volatility. The token has traded only since late 2024, in a fast-moving market where a rival could erode Hyperliquid's lead, as Hyperliquid did to earlier perpetuals venues. All three funds also sit outside the 1940 Act, lacking the protections that govern conventional mutual funds and ETFs.

Hyperliquid ETF Risks

Hyperliquid ETFs open HYPE to brokerage investors, but their risks differ from holding the token or trading on the protocol directly. We think these deserve the closest attention before allocating capital.

• Price volatility: a fund holding only HYPE absorbs the full swings of a young, high-beta token, including steep drawdowns.
• Single-protocol concentration: the funds rise and fall with one platform's market share, which a competitor could take.
• Modest, variable yield: HYPE's roughly 2.2% staking return is small, not guaranteed, and trimmed further by issuer fees.
• Limited protections: none is a 1940 Act product, so they lack the safeguards of registered ETFs and mutual funds.
• Custody reliance: investors depend on third-party custodians and staking providers to hold and stake the HYPE correctly.
• Tracking and pricing: shares can trade at a premium or discount to net asset value, and each fund uses a different reference rate.
• Regulatory uncertainty: HYPE lacks the futures-based approval path used by other tokens, and rule changes could affect how these products operate.

The U.S. Hyperliquid ETFs Compared

All three hold the same token, so they separate on fee, staking design, and reference index. A fee war broke out within weeks of the first launch, leaving the headline rates basis points apart. These are the U.S. Hyperliquid ETFs trading today.

1. 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (THYP): First to Market

THYP listed on Nasdaq on 12 May as the first U.S. spot HYPE fund. It charges 0.30%, tracks the FTSE Hyperliquid Index, and stakes part of its holdings through Anchorage Digital and BitGo. 21Shares also runs a leveraged sister product, the 2x Long HYPE ETF (TXXH), aimed at short-term traders rather than holders.

2. Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP): In-House Staking

BHYP began trading on the NYSE on 15 May, the first of the three to stake in-house through Bitwise Onchain Solutions. Its 0.34% fee is waived to zero for the first month on the first $500 million in assets, and it keeps part of the fund unstaked for redemptions. Anchorage Digital holds the HYPE.

3. Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF (HYPG): Lowest Fee

HYPG launched on Nasdaq on 3 June at 0.29%, the lowest headline fee of the three. It tracks the CoinDesk Hyperliquid Benchmark Extended Rate and is built to stake once activated, though its aggregate take on rewards runs steeper than the sticker fee. It carries the brand of the largest crypto-focused asset manager.

Together the funds have pulled in close to $190 million in net inflows since launch, and in their debut weeks they outpaced the early flows of Bitcoin ETFs. For a non-fund option, Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) is a Nasdaq-listed treasury company accumulating HYPE, trading since December 2025.

What's Next for Hyperliquid ETFs

Approving three HYPE funds in weeks set a precedent beyond Hyperliquid. It showed the SEC will wrap a DeFi infrastructure token, one without a futures market, in an ETF, opening a path for other protocol-native tokens.

More products are likely. Grayscale and rivals are working through wider altcoin pipelines, leveraged HYPE already trades through TXXH, and issuers compete on staking design as much as cost. Whether the category grows depends on flows holding once the novelty fades.

The protocol's own roadmap is the deeper driver. Hyperliquid has pushed past crypto perpetuals into real-world asset markets spanning commodities and equities, and Bloomberg cited its crude oil contract as a leading live price during a geopolitical spike earlier this year. Demand for these funds will track whether that expansion keeps adding to the trading revenue behind HYPE.