Grayscale Launches Hyperliquid Staking ETF on Nasdaq

Grayscale Highlights Staking and Protocol Revenue

Grayscale said HYPE staking rewards have historically averaged about 2.2% annually. The staking feature gives HYPG a yield component alongside exposure to the HYPE token, making the product different from a basic spot-only wrapper.

Reports indicated HYPG lined up a seed investment of roughly $115 million in HYPE tokens. Grayscale reportedly renamed the product from Grayscale HYPE ETF to Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF shortly before launch, making staking more prominent in the fund’s branding.

The launch follows strong early demand for HYPE-linked ETFs. Cumulative net inflows into HYPE-linked ETFs reportedly surpassed $132 million as of last month, and Hyperliquid ETF inflows were reported to have outpaced bitcoin ETFs during their debut trading weeks.

Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, was reported as the 10th-largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $15.8 billion. Hyperliquid began as a decentralized perpetual futures exchange and later expanded into a broader blockchain ecosystem supporting smart contracts, tokenized assets and new financial markets.

Perpetual futures, or perps, are crypto derivatives contracts with no expiration date, allowing traders to speculate on asset price movements without directly owning the underlying asset. That product category sits at the center of Hyperliquid’s original market position.

Grayscale said Hyperliquid generated approximately $857 million in revenue during 2025. Grayscale also said roughly 99% of Hyperliquid protocol fees are directed toward token buybacks, a mechanism presented as part of HYPE’s value-accrual model.

Krista Lynch, Grayscale’s senior vice president of capital markets, said: “The launch of HYPG on Nasdaq reflects our conviction that Hyperliquid represents something genuinely differentiated in the digital asset landscape, a protocol built to support onchain trading and market activity at scale.”

Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale, called Hyperliquid the “breakout success story of this cycle in crypto,” citing its technology, users and revenue. Pandl said: “This is the type of project that many investors in crypto have been looking for, for a period of time, something that really maximizes the value of blockchain technology with transparency and a self-custody model that delivers great benefits to users, that accrues revenue and that delivers that revenue back to token holders.”

Regulatory Context Shapes the U.S. Access Story

Hyperliquid itself is not currently available to people in the U.S., while U.S.-listed ETFs are beginning to offer exposure to HYPE. That distinction is central to HYPG’s market role because the fund gives brokerage-based access to a token linked to a protocol unavailable directly to U.S. users.

Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission opened the door for perpetual contracts, allowing firms such as Coinbase and Kalshi to launch related products for the first time in the United States.

Pandl called the CFTC development a “first step” toward bringing the type of product Hyperliquid offers into the U.S. regulatory environment. Pandl said: “The CFTC granted the first US-listed perpetual futures contract to Kalshi on Friday of last week, so we are beginning the process of giving real regulatory clarity around the product that Hyperliquid offers.”

Pandl also described the development as part of a wider movement of crypto-native products into traditional finance. “The crypto industry is increasingly exporting its innovations to traditional markets,” Pandl said. “The first two examples were stablecoins and tokenized assets — and the third example is perpetual futures.”

HYPG’s launch gives Grayscale a new product in a newer ETF vertical where bitcoin and ether products are not the center of competition. The fund’s main differentiators are its low normalized fee, staking exposure, Nasdaq listing and reported early seed scale.

The immediate test is whether HYPG can attract flows away from THYP and BHYP after the first wave of HYPE ETF launches. The longer-term category remains tied to HYPE market performance, staking economics, regulatory comfort and whether investor demand persists after launch-driven attention fades.