A crypto contract tracking shares of SK Hynix, the South Korean memory-chip giant that recently went public on Nasdaq, briefly became the busiest market on Hyperliquid, the largest decentralized perps crypto exchange, as trading surpassed both Bitcoin and Ethereum on Wednesday, July 29.
- According to Hyperliquid data reviewed by The Coinformer, the SK Hynix contract led the exchange for roughly 15 hours on July 29.
- At its widest lead, it had generated approximately $2 billion in 24-hour volume, about 31% more than Bitcoin's $1.57 billion.
Although Bitcoin had reclaimed first place by 11:30 am UTC on Thursday, July 30, the earlier crossover showed how quickly stock-linked trading has expanded on a platform built primarily for crypto.
- Bitcoin recorded $2.2 billion in rolling volume at that point, followed by SK Hynix with $1.5 billion and Ethereum with about $1 billion.
Instead, it is a perpetual future, a leveraged derivative that tracks the share price without expiring.
Demand for the SK Hynix contract appeared heavily tilted toward buyers. Long traders were paying short sellers an hourly funding rate of 0.0321%, which would equal roughly 281% annually if it remained unchanged.
However, funding rates, periodic payments used to keep perpetual contracts aligned with their reference prices, can change rapidly.
- The surge came two days after an unusually low South Korean trade reached the contract's price feed and triggered roughly $57 million in liquidations.
- Trade[XYZ], the operator of Hyperliquid's stock-linked markets, said in an X post on July 29 that the system had worked as designed but nevertheless promised to reimburse eligible traders.