# Hyperliquid 101 for non-crypto audiences

Hyperliquid is a blockchain designed to upgrade the existing financial system. Just as electronic trading dramatically improved markets in the 2000s, Hyperliquid offers an opportunity for a massive technical upgrade of the existing financial system through a transparent, open, and performant blockchain. 

Hyperliquid is best known for perpetual futures<sup>1</sup> and spot trading, which drives billions in daily volume. >$1B in annualized fees go toward programmatically buying back the HYPE token. HYPE is used to secure the network, pay for network costs, provide trading fee discounts, and more.&#x20;

In the same way that AWS provides the cloud infrastructure for developers to build on the internet, Hyperliquid provides the liquidity infrastructure for developers to build financial applications. Independent teams using Hyperliquid’s liquidity infrastructure (e.g., mobile apps, trading terminals, self-custodial wallets) have generated >$65M in revenue through builder codes, which monetize user activity<sup>2</sup>. The ecosystem extends beyond trading, supporting borrowing, lending, minting compliant stablecoins, and launching perpetual contracts on any asset.

Hyperliquid modernizes market structure through:

* Transparency: All transactions are recorded on a public ledger, meaning anyone can view and verify them in real-time.
* Open access: Anyone can use and build applications without centralized gatekeepers.
* Resilience: A permissionless set of independent validators secure the network.&#x20;
* Performance: Up to 200,000 transactions per second can be processed. &#x20;

Core development is led by Hyperliquid Labs, with multiple teams contributing to the blockchain and ecosystem. Development has been fully self-funded, with no VCs or external capital. Hyperliquid’s vision is to be the credibly neutral infrastructure for finance; building from a clean slate is a prerequisite for that neutrality.  <br>

Footnotes&#x20;

1 Perpetual futures (perps) are a type of derivative contract. Compared to conventional futures, liquidity is concentrated in one instrument that never expires, so users don't have to roll positions on expiry or worry about physical delivery. Compared to options, perps also have better liquidity because there is no fragmentation across different expiries and strike prices. Perps are easier for users to understand and a way to express a leveraged directional position without expressing a view on volatility.&#x20;

2 For a dashboard on app monetization through builder codes, see: <https://www.flowscan.xyz/builders>


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