Grayscale’s $115M HYPE Deal: Will Hyperliquid ETF Go Parabolic?

Grayscale is working out a deal to trade $115 million worth of its HYPE tokens for shares in its new Hyperliquid staking ETF. This expands Wall Street’s involvement with financial products linked directly to cryptocurrencies.

Summary

According to FinanceFeeds, Grayscale is in talks with Hyper Holdings Global LP to provide approximately 2 million HYPE tokens (currently valued around $115 million) as initial funding for its planned Hyperliquid ETF. In return, Grayscale would give Hyper Holdings fund shares before the ETF becomes publicly available.

According to ChainCatcher, the asset manager intends to rebrand the product as the “Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF” and have it traded on Nasdaq with the symbol HYPG. Unlike typical ETFs that just reflect the current price, this one will be designed to also distribute rewards earned from staking.

Grayscale pivots from plain spot HYPE exposure

In March, Grayscale applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a new exchange-traded fund (ETF). This ETF would directly track the price of Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol GHYP. Coinbase Custody would be responsible for securely holding the assets.

Initially, Grayscale stated its S-1 fund wouldn’t immediately stake its HYPE tokens. Instead, it included a clause allowing staking later, but only if the fund continued to meet the requirements for a specific U.S. tax status – a condition also found in the May update.

This updated version goes a step further by renaming the fund the Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF. It would also allow the fund to earn rewards from staking HYPE, in addition to any increase in the price of the asset, as long as the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the plan and how it will be taxed.

Grayscale is discussing a deal with Hyper Holdings Global LP where it would give Hyperliquid shares in a new ETF in return for approximately 2 million HYPE tokens. Grayscale plans to use these tokens as the starting funds for the ETF before it starts being traded.

Hyperliquid’s ETF land grab and HYPE market backdrop

The new HYPG fund is entering a growing market of Hyperliquid-related investment options. It follows the recent launch of the first U.S. Hyperliquid ETFs by 21Shares, including THYP and TXXH, which are both linked to the HYPE token and aim to provide investors with a regulated way to invest in the Hyperliquid network, as reported by crypto.news.

As a researcher following these developments, I’ve observed that 21Shares’ approach with THYP – incorporating staking rewards from its HYPE holdings and committing to stake a significant portion of the fund – is now seemingly being adopted by Grayscale. They appear to be shifting their strategy to create a staking ETF instead of a simple spot-based tracker. It’s interesting to see this mirroring of design choices between the two firms.

Hyperliquid’s token has seen significant gains recently, reaching a peak of over $62 and currently trading around $60. Its market value is now in the tens of billions of dollars, as reported by Binance Square in May and confirmed by current price data.

Recently, activity on the HYPE blockchain has increased significantly. Large investors, including Galaxy Digital and Loracle, have been frequently staking and withdrawing substantial amounts of tokens – worth millions of dollars – as seen in recent network data. This demonstrates that ETF providers are adding to the existing complex financial structure surrounding HYPE.

Grayscale’s actions happen alongside Hyperliquid’s growing influence in the on-chain derivatives market. Recent analysis suggests Hyperliquid’s true innovation is using its HYPE token as collateral for creating open, permissionless perpetual futures markets, and that the interest from ETFs is simply adding another layer of financial activity on top of this core functionality.

Currently, the launch of HYPG depends on the SEC approving both the spot HYPE ETF and how its staking works. This places Grayscale in a similar waiting position as other companies seeking to offer products related to Hyperliquid. Despite this, Grayscale is actively preparing by securing a substantial amount of tokens – worth nine figures – and working to be among the first to offer derivatives products based on this protocol, which Wall Street is now paying close attention to.

What does it mean for Hyperliquid price

Grayscale’s discussions about a potential $115 million investment in HYPE are driving up demand for the token, which was already increasing in value. Traders see the possibility of an ETF as a new reason to believe the price will continue to rise.

I’ve been watching Hyperliquid’s HYPE token today, and it’s currently around $60.99. It’s had a pretty good day, up about 1.05%, trading between $56.43 and $61.13 at different points.

Grayscale is aiming to raise around 2 million HYPE tokens as initial funding for its new “Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF.” Based on current prices, this amount is worth approximately $121.98 million. This represents a significant portion of the $1.01 billion worth of HYPE traded in the last 24 hours, indicating substantial available liquidity.

Essentially, this initial agreement would involve trading an amount equal to over 12% of the typical daily trading volume at today’s prices. This explains why HYPE is seeing gains while most other cryptocurrencies are stable or slightly down.

Typically, these tokens won’t be transferred through standard exchange orders. Instead, Hyper Holdings Global LP and Grayscale will likely handle the transfer privately. However, the result is the same: a significant amount of tokens will be used as backing for the ETF, and once held within the ETF, they’re less likely to be sold on the open market under normal circumstances.

As a crypto investor, I’m noticing some good timing here. The pressure from that large token supply finally seems to be easing up, and it’s happening just as HYPE is getting close to its recent peak around $64. Even though it’s only had a small price jump in the last day, I still think it looks promising for the short term.

If the SEC approves the HYPG plan and Grayscale secures the $115 million investment, traders will be watching to see if trading volume remains around the current $1 billion level, or if it increases. Consistent high trading volume usually helps maintain or raise the price of assets with limited supply.

However, if today’s 1.05% increase reverses and the 24-hour change ends up being flat or negative, especially with high trading volume, it would suggest that traders are selling off gains after the recent positive news and moving their money into Grayscale. This shift would likely be noticeable in the daily price change before becoming clear on longer-term charts.

2026-05-29 18:02