Latest news: Hyperliquid is outperforming much of the cryptocurrency market as traders return to riskier assets.
- Hyperliquid’s HYPE token hit a new all-time high after the launch of two HYPE ETFs in the US.
- Van de Poppe said European traders have increasingly moved to Hyperliquid because perpetual futures trading remains difficult to access in many regulated locations in Europe.
- He argued that Hyperliquid’s push into tokenized stocks, commodities and pre-IPO assets is accelerating broader tokenization trends in crypto markets.
- Van de Poppe said HYPE could rise to $100 or more if the crypto market appetite continues to strengthen.
- Van de Poppe joined Jennifer Sanasie on CoinDesk’s Markets Outlook.
What does this mean: Van de Poppe sees Hyperliquid as a short-term winner, but Solana as the stronger long-term conviction bet.
- He said liquidity in crypto markets is concentrating around a small group of protocols generating strong user and revenue growth.
- Van de Poppe said Hyperliquid currently benefits from that concentration, but warned that competitors will eventually enter the market and press its dominance.
- He described Solana as a successful transition from a “degen” ecosystem to a more institutional blockchain ecosystem.
- Van de Poppe said Solana’s long-term positioning as infrastructure makes it more attractive than Hyperliquid over a multi-year horizon.
AI Trading: AI-linked crypto projects remain deeply undervalued relative to traditional AI companies, van de Poppe said.
- He pointed to NEAR and Bittensor as two of the most robust infrastructures tied to AI adoption in cryptocurrencies.
- Van de Poppe argued that valuations of public and private AI companies have become overheated, while AI crypto tokens have fallen sharply despite the continued growth of the ecosystem.
- He said NEAR’s projected revenue growth from about $10 million in 2025 to up to $100 million this year supports a significantly higher valuation.
- Van de Poppe said Bittensor’s ecosystem expansion and subnet structure could justify prices between $1,000 and $2,000 if adoption continues.
The privacy debate: Privacy remains one of the most important long-term issues in cryptocurrencies, but fully anonymous systems face significant regulatory risks.
- Van de Poppe said both institutional and retail users want more transactional privacy on blockchains.
- He argued that governments are unlikely to support fully anonymous privacy coins in the long term because regulators want visibility into transactions.
- Van de Poppe said funds in Europe already face restrictions when interacting with certain privacy-focused assets.
- He pointed to zero-knowledge proof systems and permissioned privacy models as more sustainable paths to institutional adoption.
Macroeconomic outlook: Van de Poppe said bond yields and central bank policy remain the biggest near-term macroeconomic drivers for cryptocurrencies.
- He said Japanese bond yields are a key market signal and could greatly influence broader risk appetite.
- Falling yields could support stock and crypto markets, while persistent inflation could create headwinds.
- Van de Poppe said he doesn’t expect aggressive rate cuts or further monetary easing from the Federal Reserve any time soon.
- He warned that further rate hikes would likely put pressure on cryptocurrencies and broader risk assets.
