Crypto exchange Binance, the world's largest crypto platform by trading volume, said in a Thursday press release it will finally list HYPE, the native token of decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, for spot trading.
- HYPE launched on Nov. 29, 2024, putting the wait at 664 days.
- Binance added HYPE perpetual futures (also known as perps) in May 2025, but said at the time that a futures listing didn't guarantee a future spot listing.
- But Aster, a decentralized perps crypto exchange built as a direct Hyperliquid rival, had a much shorter wait.
- ASTER, Aster's native token, launched on Sept. 17, 2025, and Binance listed it for spot trading 19 days later.
Aster is backed by YZi Labs, the investment firm formerly known as Binance Labs. Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, Binance's founder and former CEO, has publicly promoted Aster and serves as an adviser to the project.
CZ had already picked a fight with Hyperliquid
The relationship became more contentious in June. Speaking on Galaxy Brains, a podcast from crypto firm Galaxy Digital, Zhao called Hyperliquid's product "actually awesome," but criticized the decentralized exchange's no-KYC model and said Binance couldn't operate the same way.
- Binance itself built much of its early growth while allowing users to trade without full KYC, before making KYC mandatory across the platform in 2021, four years after the exchange launched in July 2017.
Zhao said Hyperliquid claimed to be decentralized and suggested he personally wouldn't operate a similar business after his own experience with regulators.
Star Xu, the founder of rival crypto exchange OKX, then accused Zhao of hypocrisy, pointing to Aster, a Hyperliquid rival backed by YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs.
As he said, he is fully aware of the legal and regulatory risks. Yet a shell called @Aster_DEX was created that appears to copy the @HyperliquidX model almost exactly.
Aster reportedly shares significant resources with the Binance ecosystem,… https://t.co/ztoLT9hszk— Star_OKX (@star_okx) June 17, 2026
- Zhao himself has also confirmed that several former Binance employees work at Aster, that YZi Labs holds a minority stake, and that he personally advises the project.
- Xu argued that Aster was effectively pursuing the same no-KYC model Zhao had criticized Hyperliquid for.
He Yi, Binance's co-founder and Zhao's longtime partner, with whom he has children, rejected the comparison and said Zhao hadn't been involved in Binance operations since 2023.
She did, however, confirm that Zhao advises Aster.
In a Sept. 24 X post, Kevin Follonier, host of the When Shift Happens podcast, shared a clip from his Aug. 27 interview with Zhao at Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong in which Zhao addressed HYPE's absence from Binance.
Zhao said HYPE emerged after he had left Binance and suggested the delay may initially have been a custody issue since HYPE lived on Hyperliquid's own infrastructure, while Binance "probably wanted the assets to be on Binance" rather than depend on another platform.
The explanation may account for some of the early delay, but it doesn't fully explain the 664-day wait.
- For context, rival exchange OKX had enabled HYPE deposits, withdrawals and spot trading by November 2025, while Kraken added the token in January 2026, showing that centralized exchanges had found ways to custody and support native HYPE months before Binance did.
$113 million moved before the announcement
There was another wrinkle hours before Thursday's listing.
MLM Onchain, a Telegram account tracking blockchain activity, said seven wallets it attributes to Paradigm, the crypto venture-capital firm, unstaked 1.2 million HYPE worth about $113 million, roughly six hours before Binance announced the spot listing.
The wallet attribution hasn't been independently confirmed and unstaking HYPE doesn't necessarily make the tokens immediately available for sale because Hyperliquid imposes an unstaking delay.
There is no evidence that Binance delayed HYPE because of its rivalry with Aster or that the wallet activity was connected to advance knowledge of the listing.