USDC on Hyperliquid doubles to $4.9 billion as DEX derivatives trading gains ground

USDC supply on Hyperliquid has experienced remarkable growth, more than doubling since the start of the year to reach $4.9 billion. This expansion reflects the increasing prominence of the decentralized perpetuals exchange, where USDC serves as the primary settlement currency for derivatives trading activity.

Hyperliquid's trading momentum has been substantial, processing over $150 billion in volume during July alone. The platform's volume relative to Binance has climbed to 11.5%, demonstrating its growing position as the leading onchain perpetuals venue and highlighting how decentralized alternatives are capturing meaningful market share from centralized incumbents.

The USDC inflow pattern suggests a notable shift in trader behavior, with large onchain deposits indicating that sophisticated market participants are increasingly comfortable holding positions and assets directly on the decentralized exchange. This represents a significant evolution from earlier DEX adoption patterns, where users typically maintained smaller balances due to smart contract risk concerns.

Hyperliquid's market dominance within the onchain perpetuals space has reached 83%, establishing it as the clear leader in decentralized derivatives trading. This concentration reflects both the platform's technical execution capabilities and the network effects that emerge when liquidity consolidates around a single venue. The sustained USDC growth on Hyperliquid underscores the broader maturation of DeFi infrastructure, where users are demonstrating confidence in keeping substantial capital deployed onchain for extended periods.

This trend could signal a fundamental shift toward decentralized trading venues capturing an increasing share of crypto derivatives activity traditionally dominated by centralized exchanges.

This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry's most thought-provoking trends.