Three Hyperliquid spot exchange-traded funds have recorded net inflows of nearly $172 million about a month after their May launch.

On June 16, blockchain outlet Decrypt reported that about $5.6 billion flowed out of bitcoin spot ETFs over the same period, clearly splitting institutional money flows.

Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE also reflected the trend. Based on CoinGecko, HYPE has risen more than 73 percent over the past month. It is up 196 percent so far in 2026 and hit an all-time high of $75.96 on the morning of June 16. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty and a second-quarter slowdown in the crypto market, Hyperliquid-related products pulled in money in the opposite direction.

By ETF, Bitwise’s BHYP led with cumulative net inflows of $106.6 million. It was followed by 21Shares’ THYP with $60 million and Grayscale’s HYPG with $8.6 million. Combined trading volume for the three products was close to $900 million.

The market is interpreting the moves as institutions viewing HYPE as a protocol asset that generates fees, rather than as a simple altcoin. Jeff Mei (제프 메이), chief operating officer at BTSE, said that unlike bitcoin spot ETFs, inflows into HYPE spot ETFs reflect confidence in a protocol that generates actual fees. He said HYPE’s strength signals that the market is starting to price in protocol fundamentals. He added that the Assistance Fund’s burn structure and Coinbase’s $5 billion USDC program are supplying liquidity on an ongoing basis.

Behind the inflows is Hyperliquid’s diversification of revenue sources. In a May report, 21Shares pointed out that Hyperliquid can generate fees not only from crypto perpetual futures but also from commodities, stocks, outcome prediction and pre-listing markets. As an example that drew Wall Street attention, it cited that the pre-IPO CBRS perpetual futures price formed within a 1.3 percent gap of the actual Nasdaq opening price.

Trading growth was also supported by SPCX perpetual futures tied to SpaceX, launched by TradeXYZ through the platform’s permissionless HIP-3 framework. Based on hl.eco tallies, SPCX recorded about $1.4 billion in trading volume in a single session. It accounted for about 30 percent of total HIP-3 volume that day. It shows Hyperliquid is expanding trading demand to assets outside crypto.

There are also structural factors drawing institutional attention. The first is the Assistance Fund. Hyperliquid automatically allocates 97 to 99 percent of total trading fees to token buybacks. That structure links higher trading volume directly to demand for HYPE.

The second is the expansion of stablecoins. Coinbase manages Hyperliquid’s existing USDC reserves. The recently launched AQAv2 program adds a 4 percent return to $5 billion worth of USDC. Of the resulting income, 90 percent flows back into the fund.

Sammy Lee (새미 리), chief executive officer of Zoomdotcom, said investors are seeing Hyperliquid actually gain market share and generate meaningful fees, and he assessed it as having a structure that runs counter to other tokens. He also said Hyperliquid is not structured to rely only on bull markets, adding that the more volatile the market, the more trading opportunities increase and, in the end, protocol revenue is maintained.

The key point to watch going forward is not the price itself but whether users, liquidity and trading volume keep rising. Sammy Lee said institutional interest could grow if Hyperliquid maintains execution at the current pace and continues to increase its share of the derivatives market. Nick Foster (닉 포스터), co-founder and CEO of on-chain options platform Derive, said the options market is pricing a 10 to 15 percent chance that HYPE reaches $100 by the end of July.

The trend shows institutional money is responding to a protocol’s actual fee structure and liquidity design more than to simple price expectations. Hyperliquid is increasing its differentiation in the market by combining ETF inflows, its buyback structure and its USDC management system.