Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, stated that HYPE tokens lack the legal protections associated with traditional equities. He emphasized that holders have no legal claim to protocol revenue, as value is derived from code rather than binding contracts.
Warwick criticized Hyperliquid's economic model, specifically the decision to share 50% of trading fees with external market builders. He argued that this arrangement could negatively impact the protocol's buyback strategy, which uses 97–99% of remaining fees to burn tokens.
Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange operating on its own HyperCore blockchain, launched HYPE on November 29, 2024, with a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. The initial airdrop distributed 31% of the supply to approximately 94,000 early users.
The founding team at Hyperliquid Labs holds 23.8% of the supply, subject to a vesting schedule ending in 2028. In early October 2026, core contributors moved 3.75 million HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $330 million, with some transactions conducted via OTC sales.
The protocol's buyback fund received an additional $14.5 million from AQAv2 yield in early October 2026. Currently, HYPE trades in the range of $80 to $98.
