Hyperliquid’s AI Perp Grift Implodes: $650M Gone, OpenAI & Anthropic Markets Dead Overnight

Hyperliquid’s been one of the ringmasters of this whole sideshow, for what it’s worth-DefiLlama data says they processed roughly $234 billion in perpetual futures volume over the past month, most of it from traders betting on stuff that has less actual inherent value than a half-empty bottle of harsh vodka in a Siberian work camp.

Ventuals’ idiotic OpenAI and Anthropic contracts were cooked up using Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, a fancy buzzword for letting any random crew of deadbeat grifters spin up their own perpetual futures markets on the exchange. This whole scheme let Hyperliquid peddle way more than just boring crypto, pushing into such niche, garbage-tier markets that no self-respecting traditional exchange would touch them with a ten-foot pole.

The contracts gave traders “exposure” to two of the most overhyped AI companies on the planet, even though neither of them is even publicly traded. No actual shares, no actual ownership-just a bunch of degens throwing money at a screen betting on whether some tech bro’s valuation fantasy will go up or down. What could possibly go wrong?

This collapse also lays bare what a total joke the HIP-3 market space is: all the little grifters are getting eaten by the bigger grifters, “consolidation” my ass, it’s just the strong eating the weak like always in this capitalistic three-ring circus. Take TradeXYZ, another Hyperliquid homegrown grift operation, now the undisputed king of this garbage category, pulling in nearly 97% of all HIP-3 trading volume. They peddle contracts for companies like pre-IPO SpaceX, because nothing says “solid investment” like betting on Elon Musk’s latest fever dream. Of course their SpaceX bet hit big, correctly calling the stock’s debut surge above $135 a share-turns out even a broken clock is right twice a day, especially when you’re just gambling on the most overhyped IPO in a decade. Don’t get cocky, TradeXYZ, your luck’s gonna run out sooner or later.