HYPE has surged to a fresh all-time high of $75 in early June. This rally follows a bold prediction by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes in late May that “HYPE should at least surpass SOL before the end of this bull market.” His remarks came amid a heated exchange with Multicoin Capital’s former co-founder Kyle Samani, who first criticized Hyperliquid in the community. The dispute culminated in a $100,000 bet that HYPE would outperform all top-10 cryptocurrencies by market cap for the remainder of the year.
HYPE Spot ETF: 14 Days of Inflows as Traditional Money Piles In
Two HYPE spot ETFs are now trading: 21Shares launched the first Hyperliquid ETF (THYP) on the Nasdaq on May 12, and Bitwise followed with its BHYP on the NYSE on May 15. As of June 2, the two funds have recorded 14 consecutive trading days of net inflows, totaling over $136 million and absorbing approximately 0.9% of HYPE’s total market cap. Bitwise’s BHYP alone has drawn $82.96 million in net inflows, making it the largest HYPE ETF globally.
The contrast with BTC and ETH ETFs is stark. Since May 15, BTC spot ETFs have posted 12 straight days of net outflows, losing over $2.43 billion in May alone. ETH spot ETFs have endured 16 straight days of net outflows since May 11, totaling more than $540 million for the month. Meanwhile, VanEck’s BNB ETF (VBNB) recorded four consecutive days of zero net inflows. On a market-cap-adjusted basis, HYPE ETFs absorbed close to 1% of HYPE’s market cap within their first two weeks, far exceeding the 0.2% captured by BTC ETFs in their debut fortnight and the 0.47% by SOL ETFs, while ETH ETFs even saw net outflows during that period.
Dual Support: Protocol Buybacks Meet ETF Inflows
Hyperliquid’s own Assistance Fund (AF) mechanism, introduced in early 2025, directs 99% of protocol trading fees (from perpetuals, spot, etc.) to continuously repurchase HYPE. The protocol generates $1–3 million in daily revenue, and cumulative AF buybacks have now exceeded $1.1 billion. Although the AF’s total buyback volume dwarfs that of the ETFs, the ETF inflows are accelerating rapidly—in just half a month, they reached roughly one-tenth of the AF’s total. On May 29, a single-day record of $31.62 million in net ETF inflows was recorded.
Regarding team token unlocks, beginning in January 2026, the official schedule calls for a one-time monthly unlock on the 6th of each month. On June 6, approximately $38.7 million worth of tokens will be unlocked. However, ETF investors are typically unconcerned with tokenomics details; as long as the protocol’s fundamentals remain solid, the buy pressure from continuous ETF and AF inflows is expected to offset any resulting sell pressure.
Furthermore, Grayscale filed an amended S-1 on June 2 for a Hyperliquid Staking ETF under the ticker HYPG, seeding the fund with approximately 2 million HYPE tokens. Trading is set to begin on June 4, which will bring deeper liquidity and broader institutional participation to HYPE.
Institutional Whales Accumulate as HYPE’s Status Upgrades
a16z began aggressively accumulating HYPE in August 2025. On-chain data shows that a16z has become the sixth-largest HYPE holder (first among external entities), with a single address holding 3.095 million HYPE worth over $223 million. Multiple associated addresses continue to buy: on May 28, an a16z-linked address starting with 0x4c6 withdrew 253,947.43 HYPE from exchanges and market makers at an average price of $59.2; on May 30, another address starting with 0xb5E bought 226,121 HYPE, bringing its total purchases since April 14 to 3.9 million HYPE at an average price of $49.4.
Galaxy Digital is also adding to its position. On June 3, it withdrew 179,000 HYPE (roughly $12.62 million) from Coinbase. This followed a May 21 purchase of 158,100 HYPE (about $8.8 million) by another affiliated wallet.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has argued that HYPE is not just another altcoin but a “second-generation” cryptocurrency with real value capture, buyback mechanisms, and genuine institutional demand. A Grayscale report noted that Hyperliquid could eventually challenge legacy derivatives trading and exchange infrastructure, potentially evolving into a financial services giant.
In a related development, DAT company PURR has been added to the preliminary list of additions to the Russell 3000 index, effective June 26. Should it be formally included, PURR would attract passive fund allocations from trillions of dollars in assets that track the index, and it might emulate Strategy’s “raise-to-buy-Bitcoin” playbook, thus providing another structural buy-side force for HYPE.