Solana Founder Embraces Hyperliquid Rivalry as HYPE Hits New ATH

Solana’s co-founder, Anatoly Yakovenko, broke his silence just as Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE blasted past $35 to reach a new ATH.

Among a sea of altcoins churning gains, HYPE’s 24-hour jump of 14.5 percent—surging from $30.78 to $35.35—grabbed headlines today.

Behind that move lay a 53 percent climb in open interest to $9.4 billion on May 23, alongside a record $5.4 million in daily trading fees and $3.2 billion in USDC-denominated TVL.

Against this backdrop, Yakovenko took to X to welcome Hyperliquid’s rising profile. “The real competition that you pick or is picked for you will change you,” he wrote, framing the Hyperliquid–Solana dynamic as a defining battle for on-chain U.S. equities.

HYPE’s Breakneck Rally Vs. Solana Founder’s Product-First Response

Hyperliquid’s token has ripped higher in recent weeks. Seven-day gains of over 37% pushed the price to fresh highs. Month-to-date, HYPE rose 94%.

Year-to-date, it exploded 868.7% from its late-2024 low of $3.81. On-chain figures tell the same story: open interest climbed 53 percent since early May, and trading fees surged to record levels. Such metrics reveal growing institutional appetite and deeper liquidity.

Open interest on the platform surged past $9 billion, breaking the prior $8 billion record, as reported by CoinGlass.

HYPE futures alone attracted $747 million in demand, ranking third after Bitcoin’s $4.06 billion and Ethereum’s $1.21 billion.

Trading activity was robust too, with over $492 million in HYPE changing hands in 24 hours. Yet not everyone prospered: Spot On Chain data shows a whale’s 5× leveraged $57 million short position on HYPE was liquidated today, crystallizing a $23.5 million loss.

Yakovenko’s reply to Ryan Watkins argues Solana’s product-driven DNA. Rather than criticize Hyperliquid’s hype machine, he urged his team to lean into real usage and engineering excellence.

He explicitly rejected chasing superficial TVL benchmarks. Instead, he tasked Solana Labs to double down on throughput and user experience.

That stance contrasts with the industry’s fetish for headline figures. While HYPE’s TVL and fees soared, many protocols still focus on short-term capital flights.

A New Battleground for On-Chain Equities

Yakovenko argues that sustainable growth must rest on tangible performance: sub-second finality, predictable fees and seamless developer tooling.

Hyperliquid, on the other hand, isn’t just chasing token gains. The firm submitted formal comment letters to the CFTC on perpetual derivatives and 24/7 trading, signalling a push for regulatory clarity in U.S. markets.

That effort parallels Solana’s outreach to institutions via Nasdaq integrations and the Firedancer validator project. Both camps now race to deliver compliant, high-throughput platforms for real-world asset markets.

HYPE’s market cap is nearing $12 billion, while SOL price is trading around $180.3 (24-hour volume $7 billion). Hyperliquid’s performance metrics and regulatory push set a high bar. Solana’s real test lies in shipping product enhancements that improve developer productivity and enterprise adoption.

No longer is the race only about token price or TVL. Now, platforms vie to become the plumbing of tomorrow’s financial markets.

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