Hyperliquid’s HYPE token could be its prediction market weapon, Arthur Hayes says
Leading decentralized exchange Hyperliquids push into prediction markets is about who captures the upside, not just cheaper trading, according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX exchange and CIO of Maelstrom fund. CoinDesk reported earlier that Hyperliquid is preparing a zero-fee-to-open model for event trading under HIP-4. The Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal (HIP)-4 is a proposal that introduces event trading on Hyperliquid. Hayes said that structure is only the first layer. In a note to CoinDesk, he argued that the real differentiator is HYPE, Hyperliquids exchange token, which he said allows users to benefit from platform activity in a way Polymarket and Kalshi currently do not. “HIP-4 will quickly become a dominate prediction market because of Hyperliquids large user base, much cheaper trading fees, and very robust tech infrastructure,” Hayes told CoinDesk. “Users who own the $HYPE token can directly profit from their usage of HIP-4.” Polymarket is expected to launch a token, often referred to as $POLY. On Gate, premarket perpetual contracts tied to a potential $POLY token are trading around $14, implying a fully-diluted valuation of roughly $14 billion. HYPE, by comparison, has an FDV of about $38 billion, according to CoinGecko data. Pre-listing markets are often highly speculative and can be thinly traded, meaning any