Hyperliquid was founded by Jeff Yan in 2022, together with a former Harvard classmate known pseudonymously as “iliensinc.” Yan previously developed HFT algorithms at Hudson River Trading, then founded Chameleon Trading in 2020, closing it after FTX's 2022 collapse.
-
Feb. 2023: Hyperliquid launches in closed alpha, offering USDC-margined perpetual futures. The team stayed deliberately small (~11 people), with no outside investors or paid market makers.
-
Jan. 28, 2024: Yan's four-line manifesto — “No investors. No paid market makers. No fees to the dev team. No insiders.”
-
Nov. 29, 2024: the HYPE token launches via airdrop — ~31% of supply to early users, VCs got nothing and had to buy on the open market.
Hyperliquid*'*s architecture rests on two layers — HyperCore runs the native order book, while HyperEVM provides an EVM-compatible environment for smart contracts.