HYPE hits highest level since October near $48 as Bitwise CIO calls Hyperliquid a super app

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said Hyperliquid should be viewed less as a crypto app and more as a super app targeting the broader global asset market.

Hyperliquid is not a crypto app. It’s a super app.

It’s not targeting the $3 trillion crypto economy. It’s targeting the $600 trillion global asset market.

Investors are valuing it as one thing. It’s the other. https://t.co/DTdYf7FpGb

— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) May 19, 2026

In a Tuesday post on X, Hougan said Hyperliquid is not targeting the $3 trillion crypto economy but the roughly $600 trillion global asset market. He added that investors are valuing the project as one category when it belongs in another.

The comments come as institutional access to Hyperliquid expands through newly launched exchange-traded products. Bitwise debuted its Hyperliquid ETF on the NYSE last Friday, while 21Shares launched its own Hyperliquid ETF last week on Nasdaq.

According to SoSoValue data, Hyperliquid ETF products had surpassed $11 million in total net inflows, more than $18 million in total net assets, and over $12 million in trading volume as of Monday.

The broader Hyperliquid thesis also gained support last week after Coinbase announced it had become the official treasury deployer of USDC as an Aligned Quote Asset on Hyperliquid. Coinbase said the move expands support for onchain markets and strengthens USDC’s role as the preferred stablecoin for onchain capital markets.

That momentum is arriving as regulators appear to be warming to tokenized securities. A Bloomberg report said Monday that the SEC is preparing an innovation exemption that could allow trading of tokenized versions of stocks on crypto platforms.

The potential framework would be significant for Hyperliquid’s HIP 3 markets, where independent issuers have begun launching perpetual futures tied to stocks, commodities, and private company listings.

Those markets have already started influencing price discovery around major listings. During last week’s Cerebras IPO, traders watched Hyperliquid-linked pre-IPO perps to gauge where the stock could open.

The same dynamic is emerging around SpaceX, where a pre-IPO market tied to the company has gained traction on Hyperliquid with more than $15 million in volume and over $30 million in open interest at press time.

HYPE rallied more than 7% on Monday as traders reacted to the tokenized stock report and continued growth in Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO markets. Coinbase’s USDC announcement also helped lift the token last week. HYPE was last trading near $48, its highest level since late October 2025, according to CoinGecko data.