Hyperliquid Becomes a Hub for Commodities Trading as Onchain Markets Surge

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 📈 Hyperliquid sees record trading as commodities draw new users onchain

• 🧺 Chainalysis says Chinese-language networks power 20% of crypto laundering

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Fuse!

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Hyperliquid Sees Record Trading as Commodities Drive New Interest

Activity on Hyperliquid just hit a new high as more traders moved into commodity-related markets.

Decentralized exchanges built using Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 system reached an all-time high of more than $790 million in open positions, a sharp increase from about $260 million just a month ago. The growth comes as gold and silver prices surge, drawing traders toward markets tied to real-world assets rather than only crypto.

A large share of that activity is coming from one place. TradeXYZ now accounts for roughly 90% of total open interest across HIP-3 exchanges. TradeXYZ focuses on markets linked to stocks and commodities and has seen volumes jump as new products are added and trading costs fall.

Hyperliquid’s co-founder Jeff says the platform has also become easier to trade on, with tighter pricing on bitcoin contracts that now rivals large centralized exchanges like Binance. That combination of lower costs and rising demand has helped pull activity onchain

“Hyperliquid has quietly achieved an important milestone of becoming the most liquid venue for crypto price discovery in the world,” he said. 

The bigger picture is that trading on crypto platforms is changing. Traders are no longer just speculating on tokens. They are using crypto-based markets to get exposure to metals, equities, and other global assets, and Hyperliquid is becoming one of the main venues where that shift is showing up.

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Chinese-Language Networks Now Power a Fifth of Crypto Money Laundering

A new report from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis shows how quickly crypto money laundering has consolidated into a small number of highly effective networks. What began during the pandemic has scaled into a dominant force. Chinese-language money laundering networks now account for around 20% of all known illicit crypto activity worldwide.

According to Chainalysis, these networks processed $16.1 billion in 2025 alone, or roughly $44 million per day, spread across more than 1,799 active wallets. Their growth has far outpaced other laundering routes. Since 2020, illicit inflows tied to these networks have grown 7,325 times faster than illicit inflows to centralized exchanges, which are increasingly vulnerable to freezes and enforcement.

Chainalysis writes that these networks “operate openly across various platforms” and show “industrial-scale processing capacity, operational resilience, and technical sophistication.” Rather than a single organization, the ecosystem is made up of specialized services. Some break large sums into smaller transfers to avoid detection, while others consolidate funds for cashing out.

Platforms such as Huione and Xinbi act as coordination points, but Chainalysis emphasizes they do not control the underlying activity. Enforcement actions can be disruptive, the report notes, but vendors tend to migrate quickly. The result is a laundering system that adapts faster than the efforts designed to shut it down.

Today we’re running a three-show livestream starting at 12:00pm ET, covering the most important questions in crypto right now.

1. We’ll begin with DEX in the City, breaking down debanking, regulation, and the legal risks around seized crypto.

2. Then Ryan Watkins joins Unchained to discuss why crypto is in what he calls a major transition period — and why sentiment may be too bearish.

3. We’ll close with Crypto Tax Girl, walking through what’s new for 2025 crypto taxes, including the 1099-DA and wallet-by-wallet accounting.

Find us on YouTube and X at 12:00 pm ET.

Daily Bits

• 📊 BitMine, the largest corporate holder of ether, bought over 40,000 ETH in its biggest purchase of 2026 after shareholders approved more share issuance, pushing its total holdings above 4.2 million ETH and turning nearly half into yield through staking.

• 💰 Kraken rolled out DeFi Earn across the U.S., EU, and Canada, letting exchange users access blockchain-based yield — up to about 8% — through managed vaults run by risk firms Chaos Labs and Sentora that lend funds to major onchain borrowing platforms.

• ❄️ A massive winter storm forced the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee to delay its crypto market structure hearing, postponing debate over a bill that would define how derivatives regulators oversee crypto markets amid broader funding and legislative tensions.

• 📉 Strategy slowed its bitcoin buying pace by spending $267 million last week — far less than in prior weeks — while funding the purchase mainly through stock issuance and continued sales of its high-yield STRC preferred shares, which it markets as a savings-style product.

• 💥 A $13.4 million exploit in SwapNet smart contracts hit 20 users of Matcha Meta — a decentralized trading aggregator — after attackers abused direct token approvals granted by users who disabled one-time permissions, while the core Matcha and 0x contracts themselves remained secure.

• ⚽ Polymarket secured an exclusive multi-year licensing deal with Major League Soccer, making the blockchain-based prediction platform the league’s sole prediction partner and expanding its push into sports engagement as rival Kalshi gains volume through Robinhood.

• 💼🚀 Zerohash, a behind-the-scenes crypto infrastructure provider used by banks and fintechs, is in talks to raise $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation after walking away from acquisition discussions with Mastercard, which may still invest strategically as demand for enterprise crypto rails grows.

1. Gold Rising, Clarity in Suspense by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise

2. Gold is Money, Once Again by Capriole’s co-founder Charles Edwards