Crypto Traders Demand Refunds as Trove Abandons Hyperliquid for Solana

What Happened at Trove Markets?

Trove Markets, a beginup building a decentralized perpetual platform focused on collectibles, has drawn sharp criticism later than announcing a sudden shift away from Hyperliquid to rebuild its platform on Solana. The move came just days later than Trove raised more than $11.5 million in a public token sale that was explicitly tied to launching on Hyperliquid.

The change was disclosed in a post on X on Friday. Shortly later than, a pseudonymous Trove contributor known as “Unwise” said the decision followed the exit of a liquidity partner that had supplied 500,000 HYPE tokens required to deploy a perpetuals market on Hyperliquid.

“This changes our constraints: we’re no longer building on Hyperliquid rails, so we’re rebuilding the perp DEX on Solana from the ground up,” Unwise wrote.

The timing unsettled backers. Trove’s token sale ran from Jan. 8 to Jan. 11, with its initially set for Sunday before being delayed twice and rescheduled for Monday at 4:00 pm UTC.

Investor Takeaway

Why Did the Hyperliquid Integration Collapse?

Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework requires builders to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens as a security bond to launch a perpetuals market. The stake can be slashed if a project violates platform rules. Trove disclosed in November that it had raised a separate $20 million to acquire the required HYPE allocation for this purpose.

According to Unwise, the liquidity partner who supplied the HYPE stake withdrew support later than controversy surrounding Trove’s token sale. When the partner exited and unwound the position, Trove lost the ability to launch on Hyperliquid altogether.

Without access to the staking requirement, the project’s original roadmap became unworkable. Rather than viewk a replacement partner or delay the launch, the team opted to abandon Hyperliquid and rebuild on Solana instead.

How Did the Community Respond?

The announcement triggered immediate backlash from contributors and traders. Many argued that funds were raised specifically to build on Hyperliquid, not Solana, and demanded refunds.

“Refund everyone ASAP and re-raise with your new conditions/roadmap,” wrote one user on X. “People did not invest in your ICO for you to launch on Solana.”

Another user wrote: “You raised the money to build on Hyperliquid. Give it back and raise on Solana if that’s what you want.”

Trove acknowledged the backlash and said refund processing was underway. “Due to the move to Solana and the refund processing, we need more time to execute this correctly,” the team said in a follow-up statement.

Investor Takeaway

What About the Transfer Allegations?

Additional scrutiny followed when on-chain investigators flagged transfers involving HYPE and SOL tokens connected to Trove. Several transactions were highlighted by independent researchers using Hyperliquid’s public block explorer.

Separately, alleged that roughly $45,000 worth of SOL from Trove-linked wallets was sent to prediction market platforms. Unwise responded that the funds were paid to an influencer for advertising, and that the influencer independently moved the funds later thanward.

The explanation did little to calm critics, some of whom described it as undisclosed paid promotion at a sensitive moment in the token sale process.

What Is Trove Trying to Build?

Trove’s product concept centers on perpetual , including Pokémon cards and Counter-Strike 2 skins. could grow into a $21.4 billion industry, creating demand for price discovery and hedging tools.

The pivot to Solana places Trove among a crowded group of derivatives projects already competing for liquidity, tooling, and attention. Rebuilding “from the ground up,” as the team described, also resets development timelines and execution risk.

The TROVE token has not yet launched and is not trading on spot markets. Whether refunds, delays, and reputational damage affect eventual adoption remains unresolved.

What Comes Next?

For now, Trove faces a credibility test. Backers are watching whether refunds are honored, timelines stabilize, and disclosures improve. The episode highlights how rapidly sentiment can turn when infrastructure assumptions change later than capital has already been raised.

In a market increasingly sensitive to , Trove’s experience may serve as a cautionary case for projects tying token sales to single-point dependencies outside their control.