Solana retreats against Hyperliquid in the explosive battle of crypto revenues

The crypto market has just crossed a symbolic milestone. For the first time, Hyperliquid surpassed Solana in fully diluted valuation (FDV), an indicator increasingly scrutinized by institutional investors. Behind this duel of numbers lies a much deeper transformation: the emergence of “revenue chains,” capable of generating massive financial flows through trading and on-chain finance.

Hyperliquid takes the lead over Solana in the valuation battle

On May 21, 2026, blockchain analysis company Arkham confirmed a much-discussed event in the crypto industry: Hyperliquid surpassed Solana in fully diluted valuation. The HYPE token was trading around 56 dollars, raising its FDV to approximately 54.57 billion dollars, compared to nearly 54.22 billion for SOL.

This progress is all the more impressive as Hyperliquid’s actually circulating capitalization remains much lower than that of Solana. This means investors are betting primarily on its future potential rather than its current size. The market now seems to favor protocols capable of producing high and steady revenues.

And that is precisely where Hyperliquid hits hard. In an article published on X, Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, indicated that the platform would have generated nearly 790 million dollars in cumulative revenues. A figure higher than that of Solana, but also of Ethereum and TRON.

This dynamic reinforces a new and popular narrative in the market: the most valued blockchains tomorrow will not necessarily be those with the most users, but those that capture the most revenue through decentralized finance, trading, and asset tokenization.

A new generation of crypto projects attracts Wall Street

The enthusiasm around Hyperliquid does not come solely from individual traders. Several institutional players are beginning to closely watch the project. Asset manager Bitwise even considers that HYPE could be one of the most undervalued assets in the crypto market currently.

According to Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, the market makes a mistake by analyzing Hyperliquid as a simple decentralized exchange. For him, the protocol looks more like a “financial super-app” able to eventually manage crypto, tokenized stocks, commodities, and even prediction markets.

This vision appeals because it fits into a broader trend: the gradual migration of financial markets to blockchain. In this scenario, Hyperliquid and Solana could become the two big winners of a new generation of digital financial infrastructures.

On Solana’s side, the tone remains calm. Its co-founder, Anatoly Yakovenko, downplays the rivalry with Hyperliquid. He reminds that Solana maintains an extremely active ecosystem in DeFi, memecoins, mainstream applications, and payments.

In reality, this rivalry mostly illustrates the growing maturity of the crypto market. Investors no longer look only at technological promises. Now, they analyze revenues, liquidity flows, and the real economic models of the protocols.

In short, Hyperliquid’s overtaking of Solana in FDV marks an important shift in the crypto industry. The battle is gradually moving towards blockchains capable of transforming on-chain financial activity into sustainable revenues.