Hyperliquid launches Hypurr NFT to strengthen the community, while kHYPE depeg highlights stability challenges amid competition with Aster.

The decentralized exchange (DEX) Hyperliquid (HYPE) launched a community-centered initiative last Sunday, deploying 4,600 Hypurr NFTs on HyperEVM aimed at rewarding early adopters. This move comes as the network is struggling with ecosystem fluctuations: its staked governance token kHYPE briefly lost its peg, plummeting to a low of 0.8802 against WHYPE, although it has since recovered, exposing stability risks. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid has enabled permissionless spot quoting assets and deployed a native stablecoin USDH backed by cash and U.S. Treasury bonds. These innovations are intended to strengthen its market competitiveness, but with competitors like Aster surpassing it in weekly trading volume and internal challenges such as NFT theft, execution risks for Hyperliquid remain.

Hyperliquid Deploys Hypurr NFT: Community Recognition and Technological Innovation

Hyperliquid expresses recognition to its early supporters by deploying the Hypurr NFT on HyperEVM, showcasing the innovative capability of its underlying architecture.

· Hypurr NFT distribution details

1. Total supply and distribution: The Hypurr NFT series has a total of 4,600, of which 4,313 are allocated to Genesis Event participants, 144 belong to the foundation, and the remaining 143 are allocated to contributors including Hyperliquid Labs.
2. Acquisition method: The foundation confirms that these NFTs have been automatically distributed to eligible wallets, and users do not need to perform any minting operations.
3. Community Culture: Each NFT is designed to capture the "emotions, preferences, tastes, and quirks" of ecosystem users, holding commemorative significance. It is worth mentioning that Jeff Yan, the CEO and co-founder of Hyperliquid, created 16 of them and distributed them randomly.

· HyperEVM architecture and permissionless quoting

• Deployment Platform: This series of NFTs is minted directly on HyperEVM. HyperEVM is a programmable layer launched in February 2025 that connects smart contracts with Hyperliquid's Layer-1 (L1) through HyperBFT consensus.
• Technical Advantages: This architecture allows developers to access HyperCore liquidity, enabling the creation of applications such as lending markets, vault tokenization protocols, and liquid staking tokens.
• Market Flexibility: At the same time as the NFT release, Hyperliquid has enabled a permissionless Spot quoting asset feature on the mainnet, allowing stable asset deployers to activate the quoting status according to on-chain rules.

· The role of the native stablecoin USDH

The native market has first deployed Hyperliquid's stablecoin USDH as the first permissionless quoted asset and immediately enabled the HYPE/USDH trading pair.

1. Asset backing: USDH is backed by cash and U.S. Treasury bonds, aligning with the industry's major trend of exchanges issuing native stablecoins.
2. Strategic Positioning: The launch of USDH is crucial for strengthening Hyperliquid's competitive position, despite the price of HYPE token having only moderately increased by 0.8% in the past 24 hours, trading at 45.61 USD.

The stability risks and external competitive pressures are highlighted

Despite Hyperliquid's active innovation, the stability risks within its ecosystem and competitive pressures from external sources remain key challenges it faces.

· kHYPE Token decoupling event

• Stability Challenges: Blockchain security company PeckShield reported that between September 24 and 27, kHYPE (Kinetiq Staked HYPE) token decoupled from its peg WHYPE, hitting a low of 0.8802.
• Vulnerability Warning: Although the peg has been restored, the incident highlights the vulnerability of the derivatives market linked to Hyperliquid governance token.

· External Competition and Security Vulnerabilities

1. Competitive Overtaking: Hyperliquid is under immense pressure as its competitor Aster exchange (backed by YZi Labs) has recently surpassed Hyperliquid in weekly trading volume, reflecting the urgency for Hyperliquid to expand its product line.
2. NFT Theft: Blockchain detective ZachXBT reported that a malicious actor stole 8 Hypurr NFTs that were airdropped to the compromised wallet, profiting around $400,000, which casts a shadow over the security of HyperEVM.

In addition, analysts expressed concerns about the pressure the upcoming $12 billion HYPE token unlock might place on market sentiment.

Conclusion

Hyperliquid rewards the community by distributing Hypurr NFTs, enhances programmability through HyperEVM, and launches the native stablecoin USDH to improve market infrastructure, demonstrating its commitment to consolidating the ecosystem. However, the recent kHYPE decoupling incident, competitors surpassing it, and NFT thefts collectively pose severe challenges to its execution capability and long-term stability. While the Hypurr NFT serves as an important symbolic tribute to early supporters, whether Hyperliquid can successfully achieve permissionless quoting and stablecoin liquidity, thereby enhancing its network effects and effectively managing token fluctuation, will be key to determining its ability to maintain a leading position in the highly competitive DEX sector.

Do you think Hyperliquid can effectively address the challenges posed by new competitors like Aster through its HyperEVM architecture and the deployment of its native stablecoin USDH?