On June 1, on-chain data platform Arkham detected a significant transaction: asset management firm Bitwise purchased approximately $20 million worth of HYPE tokens in a single day. HYPE is the native utility token of Hyperliquid, a high-performance decentralized derivatives exchange, allowing users to stake for governance rights and a share of protocol fees. This latest buy pushed Bitwise's total HYPE exposure to a new high.
According to Arkham's cumulative data, just in the past week, institutional investors in Bitwise's ETF products had already bought a combined $41.8 million in HYPE. With the latest addition, the total value of HYPE that Bitwise has staked on the Hyperliquid network has officially reached $55 million. Staking rewards, as a source of underlying value for these ETFs, offer a new income stream for traditional investors entering the crypto market.
A striking comparison comes from Bitwise's HYPE exchange-traded fund, BHYP, which launched approximately two weeks ago. Had an investor bought into BHYP on its first trading day and held until now, the cumulative return would have exceeded the total return of the S&P 500 index over the past two full years. Analysts point out that this spread highlights the excess return potential of crypto assets during certain market phases, giving products like BHYP a unique place in portfolio construction.