Do Coinbase Perps Threaten Hyperliquid?

Olivia Capozzalo & Camila Russo
July 22, 2025

gm, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

Coinbase just launched the first U.S-regulated perpetual futures — will they take any of Hyperliquid’s pie?

In other news:

Polymarket is returning to the U.S. via a $112 million acquisition
The Ethena Foundation contributed $60 million in ENA to a new Ethena treasury firm, StableCoinX Inc.
CryptoPunks are leading a recent Ethereum-based NFT rally
Over 80% of the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit has been successfully laundered
Crypto ventures now make up a key part of the Trump family fortune
Investment policy statements: Ending misalignment and empowering long-term vision in decentralized organizations [SPONSORED]
DIA's Infra Gardens Event Recap: Building the Future of Crypto & DeFi [MEDIA PARTNERSHIP]

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Today’s Big Story

Coinbase Just Launched U.S. Perps. Is It a Threat to Hyperliquid?

The most regulation-hugging exchange in crypto is now offering a taste of the degen life to American users. That begs the question: is Coinbase coming for Hyperliquid’s throne?

The launch is a milestone for U.S. markets. Starting July 21, Coinbase users can trade nano BTC and ETH perpetual contracts through Coinbase Financial Markets, its CFTC-regulated derivatives arm. These perps come with 5-year expirations, USDC settlement, and up to 10x leverage. According to Coinbase, these contracts will be available on its Advanced Trade platform 24/7, and with maker-taker fees starting at 0.02%.

Kraken led the way, launching its own U.S.-compliant perps through Kraken Pro earlier this month. It’s significant because for the first time, U.S. traders have access to retail-facing perpetual futures in compliance with the CFTC.

Hyperliquid, by contrast, is an unregulated, non-custodial, fully onchain perpetuals exchange that has been dominating degen volumes. Built on its own HyperEVM, it supports over 40 trading pairs, offers up to 40x leverage, and sustains $10B+ in daily trading volume, without gas fees or KYC. In terms of product depth, capital efficiency, and cultural resonance with CT traders, it’s light years ahead.

And yet, Coinbase has access to compliant U.S. fiat rails, and 100 million users. Where Coinbase wins is onboarding new users from the fiat world. It can offer a smooth, bank-connected experience with insurance, compliance, and brand recognition.

NFT Marketplace Bust

But this isn’t the first time Coinbase has tried to break into a crypto-native niche. When Coinbase announced its NFT marketplace in late 2021, it promised to onboard millions into the world of digital collectibles. But by the time it launched in April 2022, the NFT hype cycle had already peaked. Despite a 2 million user waitlist, Coinbase NFT did fewer than 200 transactions on its first day.

The marketplace never gained traction and was effectively shelved by 2023. Why? Because Coinbase approached NFTs like a Web2 company: overdesigned, late to market, and completely out of sync with the meme-fueled, community-driven chaos that makes NFTs work.

Crypto-native users care about speed, liquidity, and cultural alignment. Coinbase may nail the regulatory part, but if it doesn't offer deeper leverage, more pairs, and faster product iteration, it won't steal meaningful share from Hyperliquid.

So is Coinbase a threat to Hyperliquid? Not yet. But it could be.

If Coinbase ramps up to include more pairs, introduces onchain derivatives through Base, and figures out how to deliver some of Hyperliquid’s capital efficiency in a regulated wrapper, it might start to compete.

More likely, though, is that the two will continue to live in different universes: Coinbase for the compliant, crypto-curious masses and institutions; Hyperliquid for the onchain degens who don’t ask permission.

With love,

Cami, founder of The Defiant

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