Hyperliquid is one of the current bull market’s standout DeFi success stories. With daily trading volumes having reached $4 billion, the exchange has become the largest decentralized (DEX) derivatives platform, commanding nearly 60% of the market.

Hyperliquid still lags far behind Binance Futures’ $50 billion daily average volume, but the trend suggests that it has started to encroach on centralized exchange (CEX) territory.

What’s behind Hyperliquid’s parabolic rise?

Launched in 2023, Hyperliquid gained popularity in April 2024 after launching spot trading. This, combined with its aggressive listing strategy and easy-to-use onchain user interface, helped to lure in a wave of new users.

The platform’s real explosion, however, came in November 2024, following the launch of its HYPE (HYPE) token. Hyperliquid’s trading volume skyrocketed, and it now boasts over 400,000 users and more than 50 billion trades processed, according to data from Dune.

Hyperliquid cumulative trades and users. Source: Dune

While Hyperliquid started as a high-performance perpetual futures and spot DEX, its ambitions have since expanded. With the launch of HyperEVM on Feb. 18, the project has become a general-purpose layer-1 chain capable of supporting third-party DeFi apps built on top of its infrastructure. 

As one of Hyperliquid’s founders, Jeff Yan, put it, 

“Most L1s build infrastructure and hope that others will come build the killer apps. Hyperliquid takes the opposite approach: polish a native application and then grow into general-purpose infrastructure.”

If this approach works, the liquidity driven by Hyperliquid’s core DEX could naturally feed into the broader ecosystem and vice versa, creating a flywheel effect.

Related: Hyperliquid flips Solana in fees, but is the ‘HYPE’ justified?

Will Hyperliquid become a sustainable CEX alternative?

According to CoinGecko, Hyperliquid now ranks 14th among derivatives exchanges by open interest, sitting at $3.1 billion. That’s still behind Binance’s $22 billion but ahead of older names like Deribit or derivatives divisions of Crypto.com, BitMEX, or KuCoin. It’s the first time a DEX is competing so closely with established CEXs.

Furthermore, as Hyperliquid deepens its focus on specialized trading pairs, it continues to chip away at the market share of major exchanges. The DEX accepts not only Arbitrum USDC as collateral but also native BTC. This makes it one of the few decentralized platforms that handle BTC wrapping and unwrapping natively, giving users the option to use BTC for Web3-wallet-based trading.

X user Skewga.hl noted that Hyperliquid’s BTC perpetual futures volume share recently hit an all-time high, reaching almost 50% of Bybit’s and 21% of Binance’s. Skewga.hl wrote,

“No DEX has ever come this close to matching Tier 1 CEX volume.” 

Daily volume ratios, Hyperliquid vs Other exchanges (BTC perp). Source: Skewga.hl

Since 2024, perpetual swaps have seen a revival as a trading tool. During the 2021–2022 bull market, daily perps volume averaged around $5 billion. In early 2025, that number often exceeded $15 billion, with Hyperliquid accounting for nearly two-thirds of it.

Data from DefiLlama illustrates the shift: while dYdX (green) dominated in 2023–2024, the landscape diversified significantly in 2024—and by 2025, Hyperliquid (pink) had taken the lead.

Perps volume breakdown. Source: DefiLlama

Despite the recent JELLY token scandal, which involved the exchange halting trading and delisting a low-market-cap token that a whale had exploited, Hyperliquid remains a popular exchange among DeFi and DEX traders. It has yet to capture institutional investor flows or scale to the level of top-tier CEXs. However, if its layer 1 ecosystem gains traction with developers, Hyperliquid could evolve into more than just a leading DEX.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

North Korean cyberwarfare attacks on the cryptocurrency industry are growing in sophistication and in the number of groups involved in such criminal activity, crypto firm Paradigm warns in report titled “Demystifying the North Korean Threat.”

North Korea-originated cyberattacks range from assaults on exchanges and social engineering attempts to phishing attacks and complex supply chain hijacks, the report says. In some cases, the attacks take a year to play out, with North Korean operatives biding their time.

The United Nations estimates that between 2017 and 2023, North Korean hackers have netted the country $3 billion. The total haul has skyrocketed in 2024 and this year, with successful attacks against crypto exchanges WazirX and Bybit, which together netted attackers around $1.7 billion.

Paradigm writes that the North Korean organizations orchestrating these attacks number at least five: Lazarus Group, Spinout, AppleJeus, Dangerous Password, and TraitorTrader. There is also a coalition of North Korean operatives who pose as IT workers, infiltrating tech companies around the world.

Related: Typosquatting in crypto, explained: How hackers exploit small mistakes

High-profile attacks and predictable laundering methods

Lazarus Group, the most well-known North Korean hacking team, is given credit for some of the most high-profile cyberattacks since 2016. According to Paradigm, the group hacked Sony and the Bank of Bangladesh in 2016 and helped orchestrate the WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack in 2017.

It has also taken aim at the cryptocurrency industry, sometimes to great effect. In 2017, the group hit two crypto exchanges — Youbit and Bithumb. In 2022, Lazarus Group exploited the Ronin Bridge, resulting in hundreds of millions in lost assets. And in 2025, it infamously stole $1.5 billion from Bybit, sending shock throughout the crypto community. The group may be behind some Solana memecoin scams.

As Chainalysis and other organizations have explained, Lazarus Group also has predictable money laundering methods after securing a haul. It breaks up the stolen amount into smaller and smaller pieces, sending them to countless other wallets. It then swaps the more illiquid coins for those with higher liquidity and converts much of it to Bitcoin (BTC). After that, the group may sit on the stolen money for a long period of time until the attention from law enforcement dies down.

The FBI has so far identified three alleged members of the Lazarus Group, accusing them of cybercrimes. In February 2021, the US Justice Department indicted two of those members for involvement in global cybercrimes. 

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Venture capital funding continued to pour into the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry in March, even as market commentators sensationalized the end of the bull market amid Bitcoin’s 30% retracement. 

VC flows are considered a vital sign for the blockchain industry, with higher deal activity indicative of strong investor appetite and growing innovation in the space.

As Cointelegraph reported, blockchain startups raised a combined $1.1 billion in February alone, with projects spanning decentralized finance, decentralized physical infrastructure networks and payments attracting the lion’s share of capital flows. 

Despite fear and trepidation in the crypto market, February was a strong month for blockchain VC. Source: The TIE

Early signs suggest that March was arguably a stronger month for crypto VC deals, as evidenced by the growing size of the investment rounds and the number of investors participating. 

Eight deals are featured in this month’s VC Roundup — and seven of them were valued in the eight-figure range. 

Related: VC Roundup: Investors continue to back DePIN, Web3 gaming, layer-1 RWAs

Across Protocol raises $41M via token sale

Across Protocol, an Ethereum crosschain interoperability platform, raised $41 million in a token sale that was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Paradigm. Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto and Multicoin Capital also participated in the token sale round.

Across Protocol is expanding Ethereum layer-2 connectivity through so-called “intents,” an architecture approach that decouples asset transfers and message verification.

Across Protocol (ACX) price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

“The urgent tasks — moving assets and fulfilling the intent — are carried out immediately by a relayer […] while the time-consuming message verification is done afterward,” wrote Aiden Park, an engineer and technical writer, in an explanatory note on intents.

“This approach enables Across to send messages cheaply, quickly, and securely, setting it apart from other message-passing protocols,” he said.

Related: Greedy L2s are the reason ETH is a ‘completely dead’ investment: VC

Ribbit Capital leads $23.6M Crossmint raise

Enterprise Web3 company Crossmint has closed a $23.6 million funding round to scale its onchain onboarding technology, which is designed to help companies and AI agents embrace Web3 without needing blockchain expertise. The funding round was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Ribbit Capital. 

According to Crossmint co-founder Rodri Fernandez, the platform provides low-code APIs for a variety of blockchain functions, including wallets, stablecoins, tokenization and credentials. The announcement also claimed that more than 40,000 companies and developers are now using Crossmint across more than 40 blockchains. 

Financial app Abound gets backing from Near Foundation, Circle Ventures

New York-based remittance app Abound has closed a $14 million funding round led by Near Foundation, with participation from Circle Ventures.

The Abound app has been designed to bridge the remittance gap between India and its vast diaspora of citizens in the United States. The app claims to have processed more than $150 million in remittances.

Abound was developed by the Times of India Group, a Mumbai-based media company. 

Although it’s not entirely clear how blockchain technology and digital assets factor into Abound’s service offerings, if at all, participation from Near and Circle Ventures suggests that blockchain-focused companies are increasingly focused on cross-border payments and remittance services. 

Source: Near Protocol

Chronicle closes seed round

Chronicle, an Ethereum Oracle and tokenization infrastructure provider, raised $12 million in seed funding led by Strobe Ventures, formerly known as BlockTower Venture Capital. Additional investors included Galaxy Vision Hill, Brevan Howard Digital, Tioga Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Gnosis Ventures, 6th Man Ventures and several angel investors. 

Chronicle connects protocol developers to real-time data feeds, which are essential for DeFi and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization ecosystems. The company cited growing institutional interest in RWA tokenization as one of the reasons for its early success in raising capital.

Related: Tokenized real estate trading platform launches on Polygon

DeFi-yielding stablecoin Level debuts with $2.6M in funding

In March, blockchain developer Peregrin Exploration debuted the Level USD stablecoin with $2.6 million in backing from Dragonfly Capital, Polychain, Flowdesk and others.

Level USD is a yield-bearing stablecoin that issues digital dollars collateralized by restaked stablecoins. The stablecoin’s market capitalization has grown significantly since its launch, reaching $116 million at the time of writing. 

Level USD is integrated with several DeFi protocols, including Pendle, LayerZero and Specta. It can also be used as collateral on noncustodial lending platform Morpho.

Demand for dollar-backed digital tokens has surged over the past two years, with the total stablecoin market approaching $230 billion. Source: RWA.xyz

Related: VC Roundup: Bitcoin RWA, BNB incubator, Web3 gaming secure funding

Halliday raises $20M for Agentic Workflow Protocol

No-code blockchain developer Halliday has closed a $20 million Series A funding round to scale its Agentic Workflow Protocol (AWP) — an AI tool that helps developers build DeFi applications without the need to write smart contracts.

The funding round was led by a16z Crypto, with additional participation from SV Angel, the Avalanche Blizzard Fund, Credibly Neutral, Alt Layer and other angel investors. 

Through AWP, blockchain companies can “build applications in hours, not years,” Halliday said in its announcement. Halliday’s programming model handles all the technical aspects of blockchain development and execution, which can theoretically enable companies to scale their products faster. 

AI-driven Validation Cloud closes $15M Series A

Validation Cloud, a company at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain infrastructure, has closed a $15 million Series A investment round backed by True Global Ventures. Additional investors include Cadenza, Blockchain Founders Fund, Bloccelerate and others. 

The funding will be used to expand Validation Cloud’s Web3 infrastructure solutions, including staking, node API and data offerings. 

Validation Cloud provides access to blockchain data and offers node and staking solutions to institutions. Its technology is used by Hedera, Aptos, Stellar, EigenLayer, Polygon and others. 

Skytale Digital debuts $20M Polkadot Ecosystem Fund

Blockchain investment firm Skytale Digital has launched the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund, earmarking $20 million to further develop the so-called “network of networks.” 

The fund combines financial support, technical expertise and mentorship to help Web3 developers expand their product offerings in the Polkadot ecosystem. Specifically, the fund is targeting decentralized applications and critical infrastructure projects. 

Source: Cryptking.eth

Polkadot is the 20th largest blockchain network, with a total market capitalization of around $7.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. 

Related: Crypto Biz: GameStop takes the orange pill