Odaily reported that Grayscale research head Zach Pandl said perpetual futures have long been a core product in crypto markets, but their use has historically been concentrated around crypto assets such as BTC and ETH. In his post, Pandl said Hyperliquid is changing that structure through the HIP-3 upgrade, which shifts perpetual market creation toward a more open infrastructure model.
HIP-3 opens perpetual market deployment on Hyperliquid
The key feature of HIP-3 is that it allows perpetual futures markets to be deployed permissionlessly on Hyperliquid’s infrastructure. Under this model, qualified developers can create derivatives trading markets on the underlying Hyperliquid network. These markets are not directly operated by Hyperliquid itself. Pandl described the design as a “permissionless infrastructure” model.
One product already live on Hyperliquid is an S&P 500 perpetual futures contract. This shows that perpetual contracts on the network are not limited to BTC, ETH and other crypto assets, but also include derivatives connected to a traditional market index. The reported change is tied to the market-creation mechanism introduced through the HIP-3 upgrade.
HIP-3 markets recorded about $200 billion in cumulative volume
According to the figures cited in the report, HIP-3 markets reached a peak of about $3.2 billion in open interest in June 2026. Their cumulative trading volume was about $200 billion. Pandl’s post emphasized that these markets are not individually run by Hyperliquid, but are created on its underlying network by qualified developers who build derivatives venues using the available infrastructure.
Within that framework, Hyperliquid is presented as closer to an open financial infrastructure layer similar to AWS: the base network provides the environment, while developers build and operate specific markets on top of it. Pandl also said the HYPE token captures the overall trading value flow. His comments link the expansion of HIP-3 markets, permissionless derivatives deployment, and HYPE’s role in receiving trading value flow within the same Hyperliquid infrastructure model.