The altcoin ETF race has a compelling new entrant — and this one comes with real revenue numbers behind it.
On April 11, 2026, Bitwise filed an updated S-1 with the SEC for a spot ETF tracking Hyperliquid's native token, HYPE. The fund will trade under the ticker BHYP on NYSE Arca. It includes a staking component — roughly 85% of generated staking rewards will be retained by the fund net of fees. The annual fee is set at 0.67%, with custody handled by Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital asset bank.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas flagged the significance on X the same day: when an issuer adds a ticker and fee structure to a filing, a launch is typically imminent.
Bitwise w another update to Hyperliquid ETF includes ticker $BHYP and fee 67bps. Typically that means launch soon. HYPE is up 200% in past yr so they prob trying to strike while iron hot pic.twitter.com/xt5gc9BpSI
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 10, 2026
Bitwise is not alone in the queue. Grayscale has already filed to list its own GHYP on Nasdaq, while 21Shares and VanEck submitted their applications in the weeks prior. What was a niche DeFi trading token just months ago is now a battleground for the world's largest crypto asset managers.
HYPE: The Numbers Driving Institutional Interest
Hyperliquid is not simply another decentralized exchange. It has become the dominant venue for on-chain perpetual futures trading — monthly volumes in March 2026 exceeded $200 billion, more than all other DEXs combined, including those built on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Arbitrum. Its core differentiator is a fully on-chain order book that delivers the efficiency and transparency of a centralized exchange without intermediaries.
HYPE has gained roughly 200% over the past twelve months and over 66% since the start of 2026, trading around $41–42 as of mid-April 2026. It remains well below its all-time high — which makes the ETF approval narrative a particularly powerful catalyst for renewed institutional attention.
Arthur Hayes Buys $1.1M — Targets $150 by August
On April 11, Arthur Hayes — BitMEX co-founder and one of the most closely watched voices in crypto — bought $1.1 million in HYPE tokens after a three-month pause. His stated target: $150 by August 2026, implying a potential upside of approximately 266% from current prices.
Say hello to my little friend ...$HYPE
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) April 11, 2026
Hayes's reasoning is structural rather than purely speculative. Hyperliquid returns 97% of its trading fees to buy back and burn HYPE from the open market, creating a deflationary mechanism that ties token value directly to platform usage. More volume means less circulating supply. With perpetual futures volumes exceeding $700 billion per month in March 2026, those buybacks are a meaningful force.
The comparison to the Bitcoin ETF trajectory is hard to ignore. When BlackRock launched IBIT in January 2024, it unlocked a distribution channel — wealth managers and registered investment advisors — that had never touched crypto directly. The same structural shift is expected for BHYP, at a different scale. The 0.67% fee is higher than Bitcoin ETFs, but reflects the lower liquidity and added complexity of the underlying asset.
Read also: Morgan Stanley and MSBT: The First Bitcoin ETF From a Major US Bank — a useful reference for understanding what happens when a bank brings a crypto asset into institutional retail distribution.
Already Live in Europe: Bitwise Launches BHYP on Deutsche Börse Xetra
Two days before the SEC filing, on April 9, Bitwise had already launched the Bitwise Hyperliquid Staking ETP on Deutsche Börse Xetra (ISIN DE000A4ARTJ5). The product tracks the Kaiko HYPE Reference Rate LDNLF and automatically compounds staking rewards — no wallet management or private keys required from the investor. The sequencing is deliberate: establish a European footprint before entering the larger and more competitive US market.
🚨The Bitwise Hyperliquid Staking ETP began trading on Deutsche Börse Xetra today! https://t.co/Wom6uY4lPi
— Bitwise (@Bitwise) April 9, 2026
Bradley Duke, Bitwise's Managing Director for Europe, described Hyperliquid as "an on-chain trading platform that stands apart not only from traditional DEXs but also from centralized exchanges" — a unique technical position that justifies a dedicated financial product. For European investors, the Xetra-listed ETP already provides direct exposure with staking rewards built in, ahead of any SEC decision on BHYP.
HIP-4, Prediction Markets, and the Hidden Catalyst
Beyond the ETF filing, a technical upgrade expected imminently is already shifting sentiment. HIP-4 will bring native prediction markets to Hyperliquid — covering politics, sports, macro, and finance. This transforms the platform from a derivatives DEX into a general-purpose on-chain event infrastructure, in direct competition with platforms like Polymarket.
The broader altcoin ETF market is still finding its footing. Dogecoin, HBAR, Avalanche, and Polkadot ETF launches have been underwhelming by volume. But HYPE enters with a different profile: real revenue, a deflationary token mechanism, consolidated network effects, and now an upgrade that materially expands its potential user base.
For readers tracking crypto regulation from a global perspective, read also: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana: Digital Commodities Under SEC and CFTC
