Hyperliquid is the largest onchain perpetuals exchange, commanding roughly 70% of decentralized perps volume and clearing as much as $300 billion in a single month across a fully onchain order book processing 200,000+ orders per second.

Founded in 2023 by former Hudson River Trading engineer Jeff Yan, it runs on a purpose-built Layer 1 using HyperBFT consensus for one-block finality, listing 100+ USDC-margined perp markets at up to 40x leverage with permissionless HIP-3 markets extending into oil, metals, and equities.

The network took no venture capital and pays no market makers. Nearly all protocol fees are converted into HYPE buybacks through the Assistance Fund, and every trade, liquidation, and funding payment settles verifiably onchain through HyperCore and HyperEVM.

Custody works differently from every centralized rival. Users hold their own funds against smart-contract and bridge risk rather than an exchange balance sheet, and the protocol itself has never been hacked, though a validator intervention during the JELLY incident showed governance can act fast when markets are attacked.

Coinbase, founded in 2012 and led by CEO Brian Armstrong, became the global leader in crypto derivatives by open interest and options volume after closing its $2.9 billion Deribit acquisition.

Perpetuals run through three regulated channels, CFTC-cleared perpetual-style futures for US traders, the Bermuda-licensed International Exchange with 180+ perps at up to 50x, and MiCA-covered access in the EEA.

International perps fees start at 0.020% maker and 0.040% taker, scaling to 0% and 0.015% at the top tier, while retail traders on Coinbase Advanced pay a promotional 0% maker and 0.03% taker.

On September 9 the international derivatives business consolidates onto Deribit's matching engine, bringing a unified order book, a larger insurance fund, and continuous funding accrual.