HYPE has surged to a new all-time high of $75, fulfilling the bold prediction by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who declared in late May that “HYPE should at least surpass SOL before this bull market ends” and repeatedly called for a $150 target. The fiery rhetoric was sparked by a public spat with Multicoin Capital’s former co-founder Kyle Samani, who first criticized Hyperliquid in the community. Their feud escalated into a $100,000 bet on whether HYPE would outperform all top‑10 tokens by market cap through the rest of 2025.
While the record price has left many retail investors cautious and even attempting to short, institutional flows tell a different story—sustained buying pressure is pouring in.
HYPE ETFs Rack Up 14-Day Inflow Streak, Outpacing BTC and ETH
The first HYPE spot ETF, 21Shares THYP, launched on Nasdaq on May 12, followed by Bitwise’s BHYP on the NYSE on May 15. By June 2, the two products had notched 14 straight days of net inflows, accumulating over $136 million—roughly 0.9% of HYPE’s total market cap. Bitwise’s BHYP alone pulled in $82.96 million, making it the largest HYPE ETF. Among all 12 US crypto spot ETFs, HYPE’s cumulative net inflows now rank fifth, behind only BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL ETFs, far outpacing many earlier launches.
Meanwhile, mainstream ETFs are suffering. BTC spot ETFs have seen 12 consecutive days of outflows since May 15, totaling a record $2.43 billion for the month; ETH ETFs logged 16 straight days of outflows starting May 11, losing over $540 million. VanEck’s BNB ETF even had zero inflows for four days running. On a market‑cap‑adjusted basis, HYPE ETFs absorbed roughly 0.9% of HYPE’s market cap in their first two weeks—dwarfing BTC’s 0.2% and SOL’s 0.47%, while ETH’s launch window saw net outflows. Institutional FOMO for HYPE now surpasses the debut metrics of BTC and ETH ETFs.
Protocol Buybacks and ETF Flows Form a Dual Support Floor
Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund (AF), which now directs 99% of protocol trading fees (perps, spot, etc.) toward automatic HYPE buybacks, generates $1‑3 million daily and has repurchased over $1.1 billion worth of HYPE since inception. Although ETF contributions are smaller in absolute terms, they are growing fast—half‑month inflows already equal one‑tenth of the AF total, with a single‑day peak of $31.62 million on May 29. Together, ETF and AF purchases create a powerful dual bid that can absorb potential selling pressure from team token unlocks, such as the $38.7 million releasing on June 6. ETF investors, often unfamiliar with tokenomics, tend to be less reactive to unlock events, maintaining stable demand as long as fundamentals hold.
Institutions Load Up: Grayscale ETF Launch, a16z and Galaxy Accumulate
Institutional appetite is unmistakable. On June 2, Grayscale filed an amended S-1 for its Hyperliquid Staking ETF (ticker HYPG) with 2 million HYPE seed capital, set to begin trading June 4. a16z has been accumulating aggressively since August 2025. On‑chain analysis shows an a16z‑affiliated address is now the sixth‑largest HYPE holder overall and the largest external entity, sitting on 3.095 million HYPE worth over $223 million. On May 28, address 0x4c6 withdrew 253,947 HYPE at an average $59.2; on May 30, 0xb5E scooped up another 226,121 HYPE, bringing its total purchases to 3.9 million HYPE since April 14 at an average of $49.4. Not to be outdone, Galaxy Digital extracted 179,000 HYPE ($12.62 million) from Coinbase on June 3, adding to 158,100 HYPE bought on May 21.
PURR Eyes Russell 3000, Adding Fuel to the DAT Narrative
On May 22, FTSE Russell included PURR—a publicly traded company holding a HYPE position—on its preliminary list of additions to the Russell 3000 index, effective June 26. The Russell 3000 tracks the 3,000 largest US stocks, with an estimated $10.6 trillion in assets benchmarked to it. Inclusion would force passive fund buying and could inspire PURR to mimic Strategy’s “finance‑to‑buy” model, creating a fresh demand source for HYPE. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argues HYPE is a “second‑generation crypto” with real value capture and institutional demand. Grayscale’s report posits Hyperliquid could challenge traditional derivatives markets and evolve into a financial services giant. With multiple layers of institutional backing, HYPE’s rally appears to be just getting started.
