Original Title: From Zero Users to DeFi King: The Comeback Story Behind Jeff and Hyperliquid
Original Author: @defiance_cr
Original Translation: zhouzhou, ChainThink

Editor's Note: Jeff built Hyperliquid by publishing professional technical content to attract core users, rejecting traditional marketing teams, and driving platform growth through generous rewards and rapid listing of new trading pairs. The HLP market making treasury and points program successfully changed user trading habits, leading to explosive growth. The success of Hyperliquid comes from continuous effort, rapid adaptation, and attention to detail, reflecting the importance of persistence and innovation.

The following is the original content (the original content has been edited for easier understanding):

In 2018, Jeff left Hudson River Trading, preparing to build a decentralized finance exchange. However, due to the complete inability to attract users, the project had to be shut down a few months later.

Five years later, in March 2023, he launched Hyperliquid. Now, it has become the most profitable DeFi protocol.

What is more surprising is how they got here. Hyperliquid has no marketing team and has never collaborated with any traditional advisors, market companies, or KOLs. Yet, it has become one of the most discussed protocols on X (formerly Twitter), even appearing on CNBC.

This article will reveal their growth strategy behind the scenes.

Initial User Base

Hyperliquid mainnet was launched on February 26, 2023.

To get a product off the ground, it is necessary to build a core user base, which usually requires continuous content creation several months before the product launch. Most crypto founders post a lot of memes and hire KOLs and advisors to attract attention.

But Jeff chose a different approach. He accumulated the initial user base by continuously producing in-depth technical content. His content covered high-frequency trading strategies, liquidity mechanisms, exchange operations, industry commentary, and legal insights. By March 2023, Jeff was posting a high-quality technical thread almost every day.

Many people say that Hyperliquid has no marketing team, which sounds like a casual remark. But the truth is that Jeff's efforts before and after the product launch were more intense than any marketing team. He himself was the entire marketing team.

His technical content was of extremely high quality, far exceeding what most people could write. This made him stand out quickly, showcasing the ability, diligence, and perseverance of an excellent founder.

The results were obvious. Hyperliquid's daily trading volume rapidly increased from $3 million at the beginning of March 2023 to $50 million by the end of the month. This high-intensity, continuous content output laid the foundation for today's "faith community" of Hyperliquid.

Cash Reward Mechanism

Hyperliquid initially created buzz through a testnet competition and generous prizes, which also set the tone for subsequent development.

Cash Rewards After Mainnet Launch

Once the mainnet launched, the real reward mechanism began. For every $10,000 of trading volume generated, users received $1 in rewards; for every $10,000 of referred trading volume, they received $0.5. Subsequently, Hyperliquid introduced a holding reward mechanism, encouraging users to open positions and hold them, such as receiving $100 in rewards for holding a $10,000 position for a week.

Most crypto projects start distributing points before they have a user base and are very stingy when it comes to cash rewards. Hyperliquid's generous approach clearly went against the trend, showing boldness.

Continuous Adaptation and Rapid Response

Once it gained initial popularity, Hyperliquid turned "speed" into its core competitiveness. It listed new trading pairs at an extremely fast pace. In May 2023, it listed 25 trading pairs; by November, this number increased to 60.

The timing was also precise. When hot projects like Friend Tech, PEPE, and WIF exploded, Hyperliquid always launched related contracts first, sometimes even launching perpetual contracts before certain projects went live. This timing advantage brought a large number of immediate users and gave people a real reason to use the protocol.

Whenever there was demand for new products or new trading pairs in the market, Hyperliquid was always the first to list and support them.

HLP

The HLP market making treasury was launched on May 20, 2023, which became their biggest breakthrough.

Before the launch of HLP, Hyperliquid's daily trading volume was around $100 million. Within a month, the daily trading volume quickly surpassed $1 billion.

HLP helped Hyperliquid skip the time and tedious process required to bring in initial market makers, greatly accelerating the platform's development. At a certain stage, HLP held 50% to 75% of the open interest (OI) on the platform.

As an additional benefit, HLP also provided Jeff with more high-quality content to publish, further increasing the protocol's visibility. Users loved his posts about HLP. By September 7, the total value locked (TVL) in HLP grew from $1.5 million to over $6 million in just 30 days.

As the platform continued to grow, more market makers joined, and now HLP accounts for less than 5% of the open interest.

Points Reward Program

On November 1, 2023, Hyperliquid launched the points program, and the effects were immediate.

Within three months, Hyperliquid's average daily trading volume increased from $100 million to $1 billion. However, the beauty of Hyperliquid's points program goes beyond just increasing trading volume; it also changed trading behavior.

Through long-term points incentives, Hyperliquid trained users to first increase trading volume before holding positions, gradually changing traders' habits. Then, they conducted the largest airdrop in history, firmly binding the loyalty of traders.

Conclusion

Hyperliquid's growth is not accidental but the result of hard work and continuous adaptation. Hyperliquid optimized details that many other protocols failed to consider. Over time, they even attracted the most outstanding influencers through public market competition rather than simply relying on KOLs.

In the crypto world, many promising founders eventually failed. But by closely observing Hyperliquid, you can see that the right people are winning this race.

Jeff went from a zero-user exchange shutdown to building the most profitable protocol in the DeFi space. Most crypto projects ultimately failed, but those who succeeded like Jeff and those who gave up differ simply: you must keep "playing" this game to win it.

Jeff provided a gameplay that everyone can learn from. Whether you are a founder, developer, or builder in the crypto space, the lesson is the same: keep building, keep adapting, be brave in execution, and dare to start over. Don't let failure define your future.

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