Cantor Fitzgerald has dropped a rare, 62-page initiation report on Hyperliquid, laying out a long-term case for HYPE reaching a $200 billion market cap within the next decade. The valuation is built on a model that assumes $5 billion in annual revenue and applies a 50x earnings multiple.
More than a price target, the report signals a shift in how Wall Street views decentralized exchange infrastructure. Cantor initiated overweight coverage on two Hyperliquid-linked digital asset treasuries, underscoring growing institutional confidence in the protocol’s economics.
From DeFi Speculation to Market Infrastructure
Cantor frames Hyperliquid not as a high-risk DeFi experiment, but as core trading infrastructure comparable to global exchanges. That framing sets this analysis apart from typical crypto bull cases.
Hyperliquid runs a decentralized perpetual futures exchange on its own custom layer-1. In 2025 year-to-date, it has processed nearly $3 trillion in volume and generated roughly $874 million in fees. About 99% of those fees flow back to the ecosystem through token buybacks and burns, tightly coupling platform usage with HYPE’s value.
Liquidity as the Moat
Cantor describes Hyperliquid as a potential “exchange of all exchanges,” arguing there’s a credible path to $5 billion in annual fees as the platform expands across perpetuals, spot markets, and HIP-3 products.
The model assumes 15% annual volume growth, reaching approximately $12 trillion in yearly trading volume within ten years. While competition is cited as the main risk to HYPE’s upside, Cantor believes those fears are overstated. The report notes that incentive-driven traders often rotate back to venues with the deepest liquidity and best execution.
Even a 1% share gain from centralized exchanges could translate into roughly $600 billion in additional volume and more than $270 million in annual fees.
Equity-Style Exposure to HYPE
Alongside the token, Cantor initiated coverage on Hyperliquid-focused treasury vehicles Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) and Hyperion DeFi (HYPD), assigning Overweight ratings with price targets of $5 and $4. Both companies hold HYPE to generate staking yield and provide regulated equity exposure to the protocol, and both currently trade at discounts to NAV—something Cantor views as an opportunity for traditional investors.
As one observer put it: “Wall Street doesn’t spend 62 pages on protocols it thinks will disappear.”
Still, the market hasn’t caught up to the narrative. HYPE remains about 53% below its prior highs, highlighting the gap between price action and institutional positioning.
A Broader Signal
Beyond Hyperliquid itself, the report reflects a wider change in how traditional finance approaches crypto—using revenue forecasts, cash-flow multiples, and infrastructure comparisons instead of purely speculative frameworks.
Cantor’s deep dive suggests decentralized perpetual exchanges may be moving from the edges of crypto markets toward the center, especially as regulatory clarity improves and institutions look for compliant, on-chain exposure.
