Interesting movement in the DeFi market. Grayscale has just filed an S-1 with the SEC for a spot ETF for the Hyperliquid token, and this looks like a serious signal of institutional interest. The ticker will be GHYP, with plans to list on Nasdaq, and Coinbase Custody as the custodian.

This is not the first attempt. 21Shares already filed an application back in October 2025, then Bitwise and VanEck followed. But Grayscale is already the third major player, and this is starting to look like a trend. When such serious asset managers move in the same direction, it usually means that something is changing in regulators' attitude toward DeFi tokens.

What’s interesting about Hyperliquid itself? The project is only 18 months old, yet it already leads with a daily volume of over four billion dollars. It operates on its own blockchain network, with the order book fully on-chain, and execution faster than a millisecond. But the main thing is—they are expanding into real assets. Currently, RWA (Real-World Assets) account for 40% of the platform’s activity, attracting serious institutional players. They even have permissionless perpetual contracts on the S&P 500 with open interest exceeding 100 million.

The current market capitalization of HYPE is about 9.74 billion, and the token provides network security plus governance participation. The market reacted immediately—HYPE trading volumes surged sharply, and the community is bullish.

Why is this important? Once spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum seemed impossible, and then they unlocked tens of billions of capital in this sector. Analysts see similar potential here—this could bring serious institutional liquidity into DeFi derivatives and tokenized assets.

But realistically—SEC will take months to review this, possibly hold hearings, and no accelerated approval should be expected. For now, it’s just an application, and regulatory feedback could influence the final product. But the fact that major asset managers are submitting such applications signals that DeFi tokens are beginning to be perceived on the same level as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The coming months will show whether HYPE joins the approved ETF club.