Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan said he would likely look at options if he were starting again as a builder and could no longer work on infrastructure. Speaking on the Empire podcast at DAS 2026 Asia, Yan said he would first look for areas that have not yet been built out but still show real potential, adding that the choice depends in part on what other builders are doing.
At this moment, he said, options stand out because he has heard from many people who want to trade them. Yan said perpetual futures already serve a large share of users, but some traders still feel perps do not fully express every market view they want to put on.
He also pointed to HIP-4 as an obvious path for building an options protocol. In his description, such a setup could inherit spot markets, an order book and portfolio margin. On the market-making side, perpetuals could also be used to hedge an option’s delta. Yan added that the challenge is turning that missing piece into something with broad appeal, and said crypto has not yet seen options- or convexity-style products reach escape velocity in the way traditional finance has.
Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan said that, if he were starting from scratch as a builder and infrastructure work was off the table, he would probably study options.
Speaking on the Empire podcast at DAS 2026 Asia, Yan was asked, "If you were a builder, and you were no longer allowed to work on infrastructure, what would you build?" He said he would first look around and figure out what still has not been built and what actually has real potential. His answer, he added, depends on what other builders are doing.
"At least at this specific moment, I’d probably look at options, because I hear a lot of people want to trade them," Yan said.
He said perpetual futures already meet the needs of a lot of users, broadly speaking. But some traders, he said, still argue that perps do not cover every market view they want to express.
Yan also said HIP-4 is an obvious path for building an options protocol. It could inherit spot, the order book, and portfolio margin. And on the market-making side, he said perpetuals could also be used to hedge an option’s delta.
He added that the real question is how to turn that one piece into something with broad appeal. Yan said he does not believe any options-like or convexity-style product in crypto has truly reached escape velocity, while traditional finance clearly has.
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