At 9:00 PM on December 9th (GMT+8), the brand-new Perp DEX—HyENA, developed by the Based team, officially launched on Hyperliquid, supporting the use of USDe as margin. HyENA is supported by the Ethena Foundation and brings a new trading model to the on-chain perpetual market by improving capital utilization efficiency, allowing previously idle margin assets to continue earning yields during trading.
The launch of HyENA further expands the USDe ecosystem and introduces institutional-grade margin efficiency to the on-chain perpetual market.
More Efficient Perpetual Trading with USDe
HyENA allows users to use USDe as margin/collateral to open perpetual contract positions, and in the first month after launch, eligible USDe margin can earn up to 12% APY. This means that margin assets that previously could not generate returns can now continue to earn yields while positions are open, enabling a “trade while earning” experience.
HyENA initially supports four trading pairs: BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE.
This launch also introduces a new DeFi primitive, HLPe, which integrates core revenue sources such as market-making profits, trading fees, and funding rates into a single vault certificate, making the revenue structure more transparent and composable, and further improving capital efficiency.
Driven by HIP-3: Builder-Deployed Perpetual Markets
HyENA is one of the first major products built on Hyperliquid’s latest standard HIP-3 (Builder-Deployed Perpetuals). Under the HIP-3 framework:
-
Builders must stake HYPE to gain market deployment rights and assume corresponding responsibilities
-
Each DEX (including HyENA) can freely configure market parameters (oracle, leverage, fees, position limits, etc.)
-
Builders can safely pause or settle the market when necessary
-
A unified Dutch auction mechanism ensures fairness in deployment costs
-
Protocol-level trading fees are proportionally distributed to deployers
With HIP-3, HyENA can launch new perpetual trading pairs more quickly, test more innovative incentive mechanisms, and operate in a transparent, permissionless environment, while inheriting the high performance and security of Hyperliquid’s underlying architecture.
Supported by Ethena, Developed by a Top Hyperliquid Builder
Based is the development team behind HyENA and is currently the highest-earning Builder in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, outperforming Phantom. The Ethena Foundation is one of Based’s key investors and sees HyENA as a crucial step in making USDe a top-tier margin asset for decentralized exchanges.
Edison Lim, Founder and CEO of Based App:
“HIP-3 opens the door for fully permissionless builder-driven perpetual markets, and HyENA will be one of the first major markets to fully realize the potential of this standard. By making USDe the core margin, we enable previously idle collateral assets to continue earning yields while users trade, which is an important step in improving Hyperliquid’s capital efficiency.”
Guy Young, Founder of Ethena:
“Users have already shown a preference for using USDe as margin on centralized exchanges like Bybit and Binance, especially with the support of incentive mechanisms. The launch of HyENA will bring truly high-frequency, real demand for USDe in decentralized scenarios. This is an important milestone in making USDe a first-tier margin asset for on-chain perpetual markets.”
Related Links
Access Code: BASE
