What is a Hyperliquid ETF?

A Hyperliquid ETF is a regulated fund that holds HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid blockchain, and trades on a traditional stock exchange. It provides exposure to HYPE's price through an ordinary brokerage account, while a regulated custodian stores the underlying tokens. Investors do not need to manage a wallet, seed phrase, or offshore exchange account.

The fund structure is particularly important for HYPE. Hyperliquid does not serve U.S. users directly, and most of the token's liquidity sits offshore. American investors cannot simply open an account on the exchange and buy it. For many U.S. investors and institutions, these funds provide the first regulated route into the asset.

The 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (THYP) was first to market, listing on Nasdaq on 12 May 2026. Three days later, the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP) launched on the NYSE. The Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF completed the spot field on 3 June. All three cleared under the generic listing standards adopted by the SEC in September 2025, which also enabled Solana funds.

Demand was strong during the first two months. The funds attracted $132 million in net inflows in May and $161 million in June. JPMorgan analysts found that they led every non-Bitcoin crypto fund in inflows relative to assets under management. By early August, cumulative net inflows were close to $280 million.

How Hyperliquid ETF Staking Works

Hyperliquid uses HyperBFT, a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in which staked HYPE secures the network and earns rewards. When a fund stakes its holdings, the yield compounds within the share price rather than being distributed as cash.

Returns are modest. Native HYPE staking currently pays roughly 2.4% a year, well below the yield available to Solana funds. The rate also declines as more HYPE is staked, following a design borrowed from Ethereum.

Issuers cannot stake their holdings too aggressively without creating liquidity problems. Removing HYPE from staking requires a seven-day unstaking queue, compared with no more than two days on Solana. A fund that staked everything could struggle to meet redemptions. Hyperliquid does not impose automatic slashing penalties, removing one risk faced by staked funds on other networks.

Are Hyperliquid ETFs Safe?

The funds remove many of the practical hurdles involved in holding HYPE directly, which otherwise requires buying the token on-chain and securing it in a self-custody wallet. Grayscale appointed Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., as custodian. 21Shares uses Coinbase Custody and BitGo, with HYPE held in segregated cold storage.

Regulated custody does not remove market risk. Each fund holds a single volatile token whose value depends heavily on activity across one trading platform. HYPE has been the year's standout crypto asset, rising roughly 160% year to date while Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana remained far below their peaks. That concentration can amplify gains and losses. The funds also operate outside the Investment Company Act of 1940, leaving investors with fewer statutory protections.

Hyperliquid ETF Risks

Hyperliquid ETFs address a genuine access problem, but HYPE behaves differently from Bitcoin or Ethereum. We would assess the following risks carefully before committing capital.

• Price volatility: A fund holding only HYPE tracks the token's movements in full, and an asset trading near all-time highs can suffer sharp drawdowns.
• Buyback dependence: A large part of HYPE's value case relies on the Assistance Fund, which directs nearly all protocol trading fees toward open-market HYPE purchases. This mechanism is protocol policy, not a contractual obligation, and may change.
• Revenue concentration: Trading volume supports both buybacks and staking. JPMorgan has warned that regulated derivatives venues and prediction markets are becoming stronger competitors.
• Staking liquidity: The seven-day unstaking queue restricts how quickly a fund can release staked assets to meet redemptions.
• Token unlocks: Future vesting against HYPE's maximum supply of one billion tokens creates additional sell pressure for the buyback mechanism to absorb.
• Layered fees: Staking-related charges sit on top of the management fee, reducing the yield passed through to investors.
• Limited protections: Funds outside the 1940 Act do not provide the same safeguards as registered ETFs and mutual funds.
• Market hours: Fund shares trade only during stock-market sessions, whereas HYPE trades continuously. This creates overnight and weekend pricing gaps.

The Leading Hyperliquid ETFs

Three spot funds now compete on fees, staking structure, and scale. Pricing is already tighter than it was during the early stages of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF markets.

1. Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP): Largest Spot Fund

BHYP launched on the NYSE on 15 May with a 0.34% sponsor fee. Bitwise waived that charge for the first month on the fund's first $500 million. It was also the first U.S. HYPE fund to manage staking in-house through its Bitwise Onchain Solutions division. The fund's half-year SEC filing reported $128 million in net assets and just under 1.96 million HYPE held as of 30 June, making BHYP the largest spot fund.

2. Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF: Lowest Fee, Yield Focus

Grayscale entered the market on 3 June and charges 0.29%, the lowest fee among the three funds. Its structure is designed to incorporate staking rewards into net asset value. Anchorage Digital Bank acts as custodian, while Grayscale provides the distribution reach of the largest crypto-focused asset manager.

3. 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (THYP): First to Market

THYP established the category when it listed on Nasdaq on 12 May. The fund charges 0.30%, and its prospectus targets staking between 50% and 70% of holdings to balance yield against the seven-day unstaking queue. Coinbase Custody and BitGo share custody responsibilities. For traders rather than long-term holders, 21Shares also offers a leveraged sibling, the 2x Long HYPE ETF (TXXH).

Outside the ETF market, Hyperliquid Strategies (Nasdaq: PURR) provides adjacent exposure through a treasury company that accumulates HYPE. JPMorgan ranks the token fourth among crypto assets held in corporate treasuries, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana.

Holding HYPE Directly vs Buying a Hyperliquid ETF

Geography largely determines which option is practical. U.S. investors cannot trade directly on Hyperliquid, leaving them to buy HYPE on-chain and bridge to Hyperliquid, or use one of the few centralized exchanges that list it. An ETF can instead be purchased through a brokerage or retirement account, with custody, staking, and tax reporting managed by the fund.

Direct ownership provides benefits an ETF cannot reproduce. On-chain holders can stake HYPE with a validator of their choice and receive the full reward. They can also use the token across HyperEVM applications or qualify for trading fee discounts on the platform. An ETF offers price exposure and whatever staking yield its structure permits, less applicable fees. It provides no further utility. Investors outside restricted regions can choose between the two structures, while those within them may find that a fund is the only compliant option.

What's Next for Hyperliquid ETFs

The immediate question is whether demand can regain its early momentum. July produced the first monthly net outflow, although the total was a modest $4.6 million. JPMorgan linked the slowdown to growing competition for the trading activity behind Hyperliquid's revenue. Flows turned positive again in August, and the funds recorded a full week without an outflow by mid-month. So far, the data points to a stall rather than an exodus.

Future demand increasingly depends on Hyperliquid expanding beyond crypto perpetuals. Tokenized real-world asset markets launched under the HIP-3 framework generated $213 billion in second-quarter trading volume, accounting for nearly one-third of platform activity. Hyperliquid is also moving into prediction markets and pre-IPO trading. Each dollar of volume contributes to the Assistance Fund, which had repurchased more than $1.3 billion of HYPE by July.

A gap remains between owning the token and holding the fund. ETFs capture HYPE's price and part of its staking yield, while the broader platform growth story remains on-chain. The next wave of assets will depend on whether issuers can pass through more of that value, or whether investors accept the limits of the fund structure. Track the live figures in the dashboard above, and see our Hyperliquid statistics for the underlying network data.