Here are the biggest stories in we3:

Hyperliquid was built to trade crypto perpetuals, and it settles more of them than anywhere else onchain. This month, most of the volume on the venue started flowing somewhere else.

Builder-deployed markets for stocks, commodities, and indices — the HIP-3 markets any team can spin up on Hyperliquid — overtook the exchange's native crypto volume on Tuesday, the latest in a run of weekday sessions this month where non-crypto contracts led. They still fade on weekends, and single-name stocks alone trail crypto.

The milestone is what the numbers imply about the venue. A crypto perps exchange is turning into a general onchain derivatives layer, and the growth is coming from markets its own users deployed. If that holds through weekends and beyond a few tickers, Hyperliquid stops being a crypto venue and becomes a trading venue that happens to run onchain.

Read more below!

PARTNER

The Defiant Exclusive: Invest in High-Potential Startups Like These

The Defiant and Alumni Ventures are teaming up this week only to give readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities, including some of today’s most exciting Blockchain & Fintech startups co-invested alongside top VC firms like Paradigm & Pantera Capital.

You get:

Curated deal flow of high-potential Blockchain & Fintech startups
No cost
No commitment to join
Invest only if a company excites you

Don’t miss your chance!

WATCH

Is ENS DAO Dead? Nick Johnson Faces His Critics

With the ENS DAO now voting to seat a new Security Council (below), co-founder Nick Johnson faces his critics on the governance fight that set it off. Camila Russo hosts.

DEFI

Builder-Deployed Markets Overtake Crypto on Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid's builder-deployed markets for stocks, commodities, and indices overtook its native crypto volume on Tuesday, the latest in a run of weekday sessions this month where the HIP-3 markets led. These are venues any team can deploy on Hyperliquid; they still fade on weekends, and single-name stocks alone trail crypto.

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	Builder-Deployed Markets Overtake Crypto on Hyperliquid Traders on Hyperliquid ran more money through builder-deployed markets for stocks, commodities and indices than through the platform's native crypto contracts on Tuesday, the latest in a run of weekday sessions this month in which non-crypto markets have topped the venue's original business. thedefiant.io

Why this matters: The largest onchain perps venue is growing past crypto, on markets its own users built. Sustained, that turns Hyperliquid into a general derivatives layer and a real onchain rival to TradFi desks.

REGULATION

Lummis Says CLARITY Act Text Coming 'in Next Few Days'

Sen. Cynthia Lummis said CLARITY Act bill text will be introduced within days, after 10 months of work on the crypto market-structure bill. The Wyoming Republican said it will focus on fighting illicit finance, consumer protections, and keeping crypto markets onshore in the US.

Why this matters: A day after Trump pushed for a vote, actual text is the harder part. The illicit-finance rules and the SEC-CFTC split are where the lobbying and the delays concentrate.

CEFI

Coinbase Matches Robinhood's 7% Yield With a Different Design

Coinbase launched a 7.02% APY High Yield USDC vault that matches Robinhood Earn's 7% campaign, built on Morpho and Steakhouse-curated vaults. The two use different subsidies: Robinhood tops up to 7% for a year, while Coinbase pays the market rate plus token rewards with no ceiling and no end date.

Why this matters: A stablecoin-yield war between the two biggest US exchanges is good for depositors. Both are routing that yield through DeFi vaults, quietly making Morpho the plumbing under retail Earn.

BLOCKCHAINS

EthSystems Launches Privacy Tools for Institutional Ethereum

EthSystems, a new for-profit firm building confidential-transaction tools for institutional Ethereum, launched with backing from Bitmine and SharpLink. Its founding team spent the past year running the Ethereum Foundation's Institutional Privacy Task Force.

Why this matters: Public ledgers are a dealbreaker for institutions that can't leak positions. Credible onchain privacy is one of the last missing pieces before large desks trade meaningful size on Ethereum.

TRADFI AND FINTECH

Tether Leads $7M Series A in Pact Labs for USA₮ Payroll

Tether led a $7 million Series A in Pact Labs to expand its US-focused USAT stablecoin into payroll, wage access, and everyday payments rails. It is the latest strategic bet aimed at putting Tether's regulated US token into paycheck-level use.

Why this matters: Payroll is the stickiest stablecoin use case: recurring, high-volume, and hard to unwind once installed. Tether is spending to own that rail before the bank-issued coins arrive.