Cathie Wood Says Hyperliquid Echoes Solana’s Early Days
Wood Calls Hyperliquid “the New Kid on the Block”
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood compared perpetual futures platform Hyperliquid to Solana’s ahead growth, saying it could be a project to watch in the decentralized trading sector. “It’s exciting. It reminds me of Solana in the earlier days, and Solana has proven its worth and is, you know, there with the large boys,” she said in an interview on the Master Investor podcast.
Wood did not disclose any exposure to Hyperliquid but noted that competition among decentralized platforms is intensifying. Her remarks came shortly later than rival DEX Aster launched a token that drove its .
Investor Takeaway
ARK’s Current Crypto Holdings
BTC, ETH, and Solana as core positions. BTC, at $109,254, remains the centerpiece of ARK’s thesis. ETH trades at $3,970, while Solana sits at $198.23. Wood said ARK’s Solana exposure is linked to Breera Sports, which she described as tied to Solana’s treasury and backed by Middle Eastern investors. She also pointed to advisory links to the project through economist Art Laffer.
Wood added that ARK’s strategy is intentionally narrow. “We don’t think there are going to be very many cryptocurrencies,” she said. “BTC owns the cryptocurrency space when it comes to pure crypto.” ETH, she noted, powers decentralized finance, while Solana has proven its resilience in scaling. “If you’re talking about the large boys or girls, those are the large three right now,” Wood said.
She acknowledged ARK also holds some derivative positions, such as Uniswap and protocols tied to Solana, but stressed that the firm’s focus is on a small set of networks that dominate infrastructure and liquidity.
Perpetual DEX Market Heats Up
The competition in perpetual futures trading has sharpened as decentralized platforms attract retail traders and quantitative funds. Incentives such as airdrops, low fees, and quicker execution are drawing users, according to Jamie Elkaleh, chief . He said retail flows are increasingly directed toward order-book DEXs like v4, which now rival centralized venues in speed and liquidity.
Institutions remain reliant on centralized platforms for fiat gateways, custody, and compliance. But with decentralized protocols closing the gap in performance, analysts to capture greater market share. Aster’s token launch, which temporarily boosted volumes beyond Hyperliquid, highlights how rapidly competition is shifting in the space.
Investor Takeaway
BTC Remains Core to ARK’s Thesis
Despite the attention on emerging protocols, Wood reiterated ARK’s conviction in BTC as the foundation of the cryptocurrency market. She cited its fixed supply and resilience as reasons for its role as a monetary system. “BTC owns the cryptocurrency space when it comes to pure crypto,” she said, adding that while stablecoins are becoming more relevant, BTC remains central to ARK’s long-term view.
Wood’s remarks place Hyperliquid within the context of a rapidly evolving DEX landscape but underline that, for ARK, BTC, ETH, and Solana remain the networks with the scale and durability to anchor its strategy.
