Hyperliquid DeFi is Coming...

If you’re new to Hyperliquid (HL) and want a bit of a primer, this is a great place to start:

A few words from The Edge:

HL has emerged as one of the most notable success stories in the current crypto cycle. The HL team has consistently addressed industry challenges with thoughtful and innovative solutions.

They stand out as one of the few teams that have opted out of traditional venture capital funding, choosing instead to self-fund. This strategy has enabled them to maintain their independence while significantly rewarding their early backers with a greater share of the upside.

On November 29, they distributed 31% of their token supply (HYPE) to their most loyal supporters via an airdrop.

While it may not have been the immaculate conception moment that Bitcoin represented, the rise of this ecosystem and community has demonstrated some of the most significant parallels in recent memory. There’s some special sauce here that’s hard to summarize into one exact thing.

Every decision from the HL team is deliberate and well-considered. They avoid chasing trends that have become commonplace in the industry.

For instance, instead of rushing into decentralization as many others have done, HL focused on delivering one of the best user experiences in the crypto space and ensuring strong product-market fit. It's only recently that they've begun to decentralize the network and develop the HyperEVM.

The HyperEVM marks the dawn of what promises to be a vibrant and thrilling new DeFi ecosystem.

At The Edge, we've been enthusiasts and early adopters of HL. We're eager to explore what DeFi could look like in this innovative environment. However, as we're still in the early stages, some aspects remain a mystery to us. That's why we're reaching out to the Felix Team to gain a few insights from their perspective.

Read on below.

Thanks to all our sponsors for making it possible to share this content for FREE!

🖥️ PYTH | SMARTER DATA FOR SMARTER CONTRACTS

⌛️ HOURGLASS | LEVERAGE AIRDROP FARMING

🪄 TANSSI | LAUNCH YOUR SYMBIOTIC RESTAKED NETWORK IN MINUTES

📈 ⁠iYIELD | YOUR FINANCIAL PICTURE, SIMPLIFIED

🧪 MANTLE | START YOUR RESTAKING JOURNEY TODAY WITH CMETH

🐡 PUFFER FINANCE | LIQUID RESTAKING FOR THE LITTLE FISH

🌔 MOONWELL | THE LEADING LENDING AND BORROWING APP ON BASE

🐐 ⁠GOAT NETWORK⁠ | A BITCOIN L2 TO EARN WITH BTC & DOGE

⚙️ GEARBOX PROTOCOL | ONCHAIN LENDING REIMAGINED

📈 DEFINITIVE | THE MOST ADVANCED PLATFORM FOR ONCHAIN TRADING

Our Chat With Felix

Edge: Who is behind Felix?

Felix Team: The Felix protocol has contributors from the Felix Foundation as well as partnerships with/contributors from blockchain security firm Three Sigma and risk management firm Anthias Labs. Felix is incubated by the Hyperliquid-native angel syndicate HyperActive.

Edge: Why were you compelled to build on Hyperliquid?

Felix Team: Felix shares Hyperliquid’s mission to create a user-owned blockchain for global finance. We are Hyperliquid users first and saw the need to build a secure venue for HYPE holders to get liquidity on their HYPE instead of needing to sell their HYPE, so they can trade more. Felix contributors have been Hyperliquid bulls since long before TGE.

Edge: As builders, what excites you about this Hyperliquid architecture? What does it unlock in DeFi that wouldn’t be possible otherwise?

Felix Team: Building on Hyperliquid provides unmatched liquidity as well as innovative features like spot orderbook liquidations, future EVM<>Spot/Perp composability, greatly improved capital efficiency via the spot orderbook and more. Overall, these features will allow for great apps to be built on top of HyperEVM that will serve traders with the speed and efficiency they are used to from trading on the Hyperliquid DEX.

Edge: Are there unique challenges to working on such a brand new ecosystem? 

Felix Team: Hyperliquid has taken a unique product-first approach when developing an L1 by starting with building the ultimate perp dex and then expanding into a high-performance general purpose L1. This approach has abandoned the ecosystem-first approach we have seen from the likes of Monad, Berachain, and MegaETH. Because of this, it can be a bit more daunting for new builders to join because there is not the handholding there may be in old ecosystems, but this is part of the ethos builders and users on Hyperliquid want. 

Edge: As an outsider looking in, the Hyperliquid team appears heads-down and busy shipping at all times. Are they ever hard to reach? Are they providing you with all the relevant resources to build?

Felix Team: They provide excellent support and are always quick to assist with any technical questions. They are heads-down, and HyperEVM builders tend to be heads-down as well, so the dynamic works well.

Edge: What are you building with Felix?

Felix Team: Felix is building secure money market infrastructure on Hyperliquid L1, along with our decentralized, Hyperliquid-native CDP stablecoin, feUSD. Felix will allow Hyperliquid power users to run carry trades, margin trades, and earn passive yield on stables. 

Edge: Why fork Liquity V2? Are there any elements you’re doing differently?

Felix Team: Hyperliquid power users only want to place their HYPE in the most battle-tested smart contracts. Working with Liquity v2 offers this with four separate audits and two more specifically for Felix. Additionally, Liquidity v2 and Felix will offer some of the best capital efficiency in DeFi via user-set interest rates. We are seeing this play out in real-time with Liquity v2 live and offering some of the best rates in DeFi. Felix will incorporate a mint cap on feUSD in order to scale in a risk-adjusted way. 

For more on Liquity V2, we just did a podcast with Liquity V2 and the friendly forks of Felix + Quill. Check it out here:

Edge: Do you have any 2025 predictions for Hyperliquid growth?

Felix Team: If Hyperliquid and the HyperEVM eco maintain the focus on real products with real use cases for real users, there should be no local limit on growth we can predict here. 

• Follow the Felix Team on X (Twitter) here