Hyperliquid Founder Hits Back at Claims of Profit-First Tactics

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 💥 Hyperliquid fights back against “profit over traders” FUD

• 🧮 DeFiLlama says Aster is “still a black box” after relisting

• 🛑 Binance cracks down, bans hundreds exploiting Alpha program

• 🪂 OpenSea’s SEA token airdrop coming — half goes to users

Hyperliquid Founder Denies Claims That DEX Prioritizes Revenue Over Traders

Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan has publicly refuted claims that the platform prioritizes protocol revenue, calling such allegations “FUD.”

Jeff explained that the automatic deleveraging (ADL) mechanism used by Hyperliquid is designed to benefit traders, not the platform. 

He pointed to the Oct. 10 ADL event as an example, saying users collectively earned hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from favorable liquidations, contrary to claims that the platform was capturing these profits for protocol revenue.

Jeff also clarified that while a backstop liquidation approach could have made Hyperliquid significantly more profitable, it would have exposed the system to much higher financial risk.

Analysis of the Oct. 10 liquidation event from AltLayer co-founder YQ found that the Hyperliquid vault earned $40 million in single-day profits. 

“The real damage came from market structure failures that made ADL necessary,” said YQ. 

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Big welcome to Zero Knowledge Consulting’s Austin Campbell and CoinFund’s Chris Perkins, the newest crew members of Bits + Bips! 👏 👩‍✈️ 

Tune in LIVE at 4:30pm ET as Austin, Chris, and Ram Ahluwalia are joined by Equity Management Associates’ Lawrence Lepard to discuss gold vs BTC, continuing fallout from the Black Friday flash crash, Tempo, and more. Catch it on YouTube, X, PumpFun, or Twitch.

DeFiLlama Founder Calls Aster ‘Still a Black Box’ After Relisting Data

Blockchain data platform DeFiLlama has reinstated volume data for the Aster perpetual exchange, despite a decision earlier in the month to cease showing it over data integrity concerns. 

“It's still a black box and we can't verify the numbers,” said DeFiLlama’s founder, the pseudonymous 0xngmi, on X. 

“We're working on a solution that will include other metrics to make this better, but since this might take some time Aster team asked us to relist them meanwhile.”

0xngmi has said that Aster’s data is unverifiable because the protocol failed to provide “order-level” transparency — such as which wallets were making and filling trades.

DeFiLlama’s perpetual volume data for Aster now includes major gaps in the months of September and October.

Binance Cracks Down on Alpha Program Abuse, Bans Hundreds of Accounts

Crypto exchange Binance has banned over 600 user accounts for using unauthorized third-party trading tools and bots, as part of a broader crackdown on platform abuse.

The banned accounts were found to be using automated bots and scripts to exploit Binance Alpha and related trading programs. 

These tools allowed users to gain disproportionate advantages in token distribution events and other reward mechanisms.

“The platform reserves the right to permanently disqualify such accounts from participating in any Binance activities and to reclaim all profits earned by those accounts in Alpha activities,” said Binance on X. 

OpenSea Prepares SEA Token Airdrop, Pledges 50% Community Allocation

OpenSea has officially announced that its SEA token will launch in the first quarter of 2026, marking a significant step in its transition from a traditional NFT marketplace to a multi-chain trading platform for digital and tokenized assets.

According to CEO Devin Finzer, 50% of the total SEA supply will be allocated to the community, particularly active users and participants in OpenSea’s rewards programs. Eligible users will receive SEA distributions through an airdrop system.

At launch, OpenSea will allocate 50% of its platform revenue toward buying back SEA tokens from the market — a buyback plan that positions SEA as a utility token with economic mechanisms tied directly to OpenSea’s trading activity.

OpenSea reported $2.6 billion in trading volume for October 2025, with more than 90% of transactions coming from token trading rather than NFTs.

• 🏛️🤝 Top crypto executives, including leaders from Coinbase, Galaxy Digital, Uniswap, and Circle, are set to meet Senate Democrats led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to push discussions on stalled U.S. crypto market structure legislation, which remains mired in partisan negotiations.

• 🇨🇳 Beijing reportedly instructed major tech firms like Ant Group and JD.com to pause plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong, reflecting the central bank’s concerns that private digital currencies could undermine its own digital yuan and create financial risks.

• 🌀 Solana-based trading platform Jupiter has rolled out Ultra V3, a new engine featuring predictive execution tools, sandwich attack defense, and zero-gas transactions to boost trade speed, price accuracy, and security.

• 🔁 Ethereum core developer Dankrad Feist has left the Ethereum Foundation to join Tempo, signaling a big talent shift toward stablecoin infrastructure and global payments innovation.

• ⚽🎟️ Switzerland’s gambling regulator filed a criminal complaint against FIFA, claiming its blockchain-based “Right to Buy” ticket tokens for the 2026 World Cup amounted to illegal gambling and lotteries without proper licenses.

• ⚡💰 MegaETH, a blockchain project focused on faster transactions, repurchased 4.75% of its equity and token warrants from early backers who were exiting before its token launch, signaling confidence ahead of its upcoming mainnet debut.

• 📊 Ondo Finance called for more transparency before Nasdaq moves forward with its plan to settle tokenized stocks through the DTC clearinghouse, urging regulators to ensure clear standards for how on-chain securities would be handled.

• 💴 Japan’s three biggest banks — MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho — teamed up to launch stablecoins pegged to the yen and the dollar, starting with a pilot for Mitsubishi Corporation, aiming to modernize corporate payments and bring tokenized money directly under the domestic banking system.

• 🇯🇵 Japan’s Financial Services Agency is weighing a policy shift that could let domestic banks buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies, as well as register as crypto exchanges, in a bid to expand market access for retail investors while tightening rules to curb insider trading.

• 📹 YouTube megastar MrBeast filed a trademark for “MrBeast Financial,” a planned app offering crypto exchange, payments, and financial services, though he has yet to seek the required regulatory approvals to legally launch it in the U.S.

• 🚀 Stripe-backed crypto startup Tempo secured $500 million in Series A funding at a $5 billion valuation to build stablecoin-powered payment rails, with backing from Thrive Capital, Sequoia, and Paradigm, among other major investors.

• 💼 Arthur Hayes’ family office is launching a $250 million private equity fund to back mid-sized crypto firms, aiming to spend up to $75 million per deal on companies like trading tech providers and blockchain analytics platforms.

• 🌐 A group of prominent Asian crypto veterans—including Huobi founder Li Lin and HashKey CEO Xiao Feng—are reportedly forming a $1 billion ETH-focused digital asset treasury and may acquire a Nasdaq-listed shell to help launch it.

1. On-chain FX is the next stablecoin frontier by Haonan Li, co-founder and CEO of Codex

2. Decrypt: Polymarket Airdrop Farmers Have Become 'More Sophisticated' as Token Launch Looms

3. Market Oversight, not Community Governance by Proph3t, co-founder of MetaDAO