Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan has forcefully reiterated the project's foundational principle of "credible neutrality," framing it as a non-negotiable design constraint rather than marketing language. In a January 1 post on X, Yan declared that integrity and credible neutrality require "no private investors, no market maker deals, and no protocol fees to any company." He emphasized that the legitimacy of governance is tied to the absence of paid counterparties.
The stance extends to the blockchain's origin story. Yan noted that "the initial state of any blockchain is a crucial part of its story that can never be erased," drawing a parallel to Bitcoin's permissionless ethos. Hyperliquid's genesis distribution was entirely allocated to early users, explicitly excluding core contributors, with the full distribution verifiable on-chain without obfuscation.
This principled position arrives as a direct counterpoint to the launch of rival perpetual futures exchange Lighter. Lighter, an Ethereum-based perpetuals DEX and Layer-2, launched earlier this week and quickly climbed in rankings. On December 30, it airdropped 250 million LIT tokens (25% of its 1 billion total supply) to early users, with another 25% reserved for future growth. However, the remaining 50% was allocated to employees and investors, subject to a one-year lockup and three-year vesting.
This allocation structure has ignited debate across DeFi regarding the sincerity of "community-first" narratives when insiders control half the token supply. The controversy intensified when on-chain analysts alleged undisclosed deals, pointing to five undisclosed addresses receiving $26 million in LIT tokens after providing $5 million in liquidity. Specific mentions included market maker Jump Trading and Kelsier Labs, the latter accumulating $11.52 million in LIT. The lack of early disclosure fueled community anger, with Web3 researcher ZachXBT commenting "crime pays."
The Lighter team acknowledged early arrangements with liquidity providers and market makers, but skepticism persists. Critics argue the airdrop was used as a settlement tool outside the public points program, undermining trust.
Amid this controversy, Hyperliquid's market dominance has shifted significantly. From a peak of 75% market share in May, Hyperliquid now holds under 19%. Lighter has gained traction, suggesting that while principles matter, liquidity ultimately responds to incentives, order-book depth, and uptime. The ideological battle line is clear: is the best on-chain market structure about pure product performance, or does it require refusing the incentives that come with investors and insider allocations? At the time of reporting, HYPE traded at $24.51.
