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Apollo Crypto has made Hyperliquid its largest altcoin position, with head of research Pratik Kala arguing that the protocol stands out not only because of its product-market fit, but also because its token design and growing market structure give traders something that few crypto venues currently offer: usable, revenue-linked infrastructure.
In comments shared via X, Kala described Hyperliquid in unusually direct terms. “Hyperliquid is our largest altcoin position in the fund. Why? Because it’s phenomenal. The product works,” he said. For Apollo, the case seems to rest on two pillars: the traction of the exchange as a trading platform, and a symbolic model that Kala has framed as cleaner and more transparent than many of the industry’s recent experiments.
He contrasted Hyperliquid’s buyback structure with the more complicated token systems that defined previous market cycles. “The tokenomics is refreshing. It uses 97 to 99%, depending on how you want to calculate it, of all revenue to buy back its token in a very transparent way. No managerial mumbo-jumbo. No, you know, a token fueled by another token and some dynamic inflation, burning, slamming stuff that, to be honest, has destroyed a lot of people’s capital and brains in recent years.”
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That framing is central to Apollo’s theorem. Kala’s argument is not simply that Hyperliquid has momentum, but that it has a working product coupled with a token accrual model that traders can actually follow. In an industry where valuation stories often hinge on future governance or vague utility, he presented Hyperliquid as relatively simple: Trading activity generates revenue, and that revenue fuels token buybacks.
He also pointed to adoption trends. According to Kala, “a lot of the volumes are going there,” as market makers and funds increasingly use the platform. He argued that Hyperliquid has been superior “in a lot of ways,” especially in the way it handles new listings, pre-markets and other product expansions.
However, a big part of the bullish case is HIP-3, which Kala says already opens up tradable opportunities outside the usual crypto scheme. He described a weekend trade tied to news that OpenAI had won a contract after Anthropic did not allow its AI technology to be used by the Department of Defense. According to Kala, because development failed while traditional markets were closed, most market participants were effectively left on the sidelines.
“Personally, I made 50%. How? Because HIP3, OpenAI and Anthropic were both trading on HIP3,” he said. “Liquidity isn’t great, but OpenAI is up 50% this weekend. Anthropic was static, should have expected you could have taken a spread trade where you could short Anthropic and long open AI. Do it on HIP3, you can make money, you can generate alpha.”
That example touches on the broader point Apollo is making. HIP-3 is presented not just as a product vertical, but as a place where traders can express event-driven views on assets that are not normally accessible when news breaks. Kala said the market now includes private market trading as well as listed stocks and commodities such as oil, gold and silver on weekends.
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He offered one data point to demonstrate early traction: During a recent silver mania, HIP-3 was briefly responsible for 1% to 2% of global silver volumes, despite having launched only about a month to six weeks earlier. For Kala, this doesn’t signal retail novelty, but serious involvement from hedge funds, sophisticated investors and active portfolio managers looking for 24-hour execution.
He added that revenue from HIP-3 is split 50-50 between the deployed markets and Hyperliquid, with Hyperliquid’s share coming back into the HYPE buyback. From Apollo’s perspective, this strengthens the flywheel instead of diluting it.
Kala also highlighted what might happen next. He said HIP-4, focused on prediction markets and options, could push the platform further, while regulatory shifts in the US could eventually open the way for a KYC-compliant version there. He acknowledged that competition exists, including from rival platforms like Lighter. But according to Apollo, Hyperliquid has already done something more difficult than launching a new location: it has captured merchant attention, liquidity and, increasingly, loyalty.
At the time of writing, HYPE was trading at $30,485.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com