Investment management firm VanEck is preparing to file for a new exchange-traded fund centered around the Hyperliquid token, according to two employees familiar with the matter. The firm is planning a spot staking ETF for the U.S. market and an exchange-traded product for Europe.
This would mark the first time HYPE, a relatively new token, gets the ETF treatment from VanEck. The firm is already a known player in the crypto ETF space with its bitcoin and ether funds.
Why Hyperliquid?
Matt Maximo, a senior digital assets investment analyst at VanEck, noted that Hyperliquid has been a major focus for the firm’s liquid fund this year. It’s a layer-1 blockchain that supports a perpetual futures exchange and has seen pretty rapid growth since it launched just last year.
According to Blockworks research data, it’s actually led all blockchains in network revenue for four weeks straight. That’s not nothing.
Kyle Dacruz, who leads digital assets products, added that the firm is even considering allocating a portion of the products’ net profits toward HYPE buybacks. That’s interesting because Hyperliquid already does something similar—buying back HYPE tokens with nearly all of its platform revenue.
Access and Demand
So why choose HYPE? Dacruz pointed out that there’s “plenty of demand” for the token, but it’s not yet listed on major U.S. exchanges like Coinbase. A staking ETF could give U.S. investors a simpler way to get exposure. It might even encourage those big exchanges to finally list it. Maybe.
Neither Dacruz nor Maximo would say when the filing might go live. A VanEck spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, which isn’t all that unusual in these situations.
The Regulatory Hurdle
Of course, none of this happens without regulatory approval. In Europe, things might move a bit faster—21Shares already launched a Hyperliquid ETP there back in August.
But in the U.S., the SEC has a growing pile of crypto ETF applications to sort through. They’re looking at proposals for bigger tokens like Solana and XRP, too. VanEck itself has also applied for ETFs tied to AVAX, SOL, and a couple others.
A Complicated Side Note
There’s another layer to this. VanEck is connected—indirectly, perhaps—to a stablecoin project called Agora, which is co-founded by the CEO’s son, Nick van Eck. Agora is competing to issue USDH, a stablecoin tied to Hyperliquid.
Jan van Eck, the CEO, has publicly supported Agora’s proposal. Reports also say VanEck helps manage some of Agora’s reserves. It’s a curious overlap, though it’s not clear how—or if—it ties directly into the ETF plans.
All in all, it signals that VanEck is still betting big on crypto, even beyond the obvious names. Whether regulators are on the same page is another question entirely.
