The Arbitrum-based DEX also announced a new points program that kicked off on May 28.
Arbitrum-based decentralized exchange Hyperliquid continues to climb the DeFi rankings and has now surpassed dYdX in terms of total value locked (TVL).
According to DefiLlama, Hyperliquid has $530 million in TVL versus dYdX’s $484 million. This figure represents a new all-time high and places Hyperliquid in second place among derivatives platforms, right behind GMX, which showcases $542 million.
Rounding out the top 5 in terms of TVL are Solana-based Jupiter with $415 million and Drift with $365 million.
Hyperliquid has enjoyed a stellar 2024. Just six weeks ago, the platform ranked 8th for TVL. But the driver for its most recent surge appears to be the new points program Hyperliquid unveiled on May 29, which has users flocking to the platform.
The new program began on May 29, and the first snapshot for eligible recipients ends today. The team is distributing 700,000 points weekly over four months, along with an additional 2 million points per week for activity between May 1 and May 28.
The community’s reaction was mixed. Many decried Hyperliquid’s decision to prolong the incentives program and thereby postpone its token launch and airdrop. That hasn’t stopped traders from piling in, however.
Defending Hyperliquid
According to Steven, a founding member of Yunt Capital, which has backed some of the largest firms in crypto, including Zerion, Hyperliquid has distributed roughly 51 million points to date over four periods.
He says the project has been trying to reward its earliest users and is clearly intent on moving past its perpetual dex tag into a Layer 1.
“The wording from the announcement shows that the team is making an effort to spread awareness that HL is an L1 and not just a perps dex,” Steven posted on May 29, the same day as Hyperliquid’s announcement. “To me, this is a hint that the plan is to allocate a majority of the points to non-perps related features.”
Steven also pointed to PURR holders as favored by Hyperliquid. “In April, the team heavily rewarded PURR holders with points, so a continuation of this behavior seems likely,” he said. PURR, which was the first spot token launched on Hyperliquid, soared 23% today.
Milestones before Token
While some users might be disappointed that the token generation event (TGE) for Hyperliquid tokens isn’t imminent, the team appears to want to complete a certain set of goals before launching its token.
The pseudonymous Chameleon Jeff, who leads Hyperliquid, wrote on X on May 29 about three main goals before distributing its token. These include deploying the native EVM, seamlessly integrating the EVM with existing native components, and fully decentralizing the network (although he shared no details on how this would take place).
For Steven, the move to stall the token launch and instead do another round of points might turn out for the best. “By first proving to the market that HL should be valued like an L1, the token will be priced higher on TGE. Isn’t that what everyone wants at the end of the day?” he concluded.
