Hyperliquid's Jeff Yan pitches on-chain private markets at Korea Blockchain Week 2026
In brief
- Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan laid out an on-chain private markets vision at KBW 2026 in Seoul.
- Institution-only asset classes hold "huge opportunities," Yan said, calling wealth access gate-kept.
- HIP-3, Hyperliquid's permissionless perp-market initiative, is the vision's technical backbone, per Crypto Briefing.
- Hyperliquid held a September 28 seminar for Korean financial institutions, per Crypto Briefing.
Access, not just profit
Yan's pitch wasn't mainly about returns. Crypto Briefing reported that he framed the opportunity in terms of access rather than pure profit, and that he described better on-chain market infrastructure for restricted assets as "socially beneficial."
That's a notable argument coming from the founder of a trading venue. It's also worth being precise about what it is.
What Yan presented in Seoul is his stated vision, not a product announcement.
HIP-3 as the plumbing
According to Crypto Briefing, the technical backbone of Yan's private markets vision is HIP-3, an initiative that lets independent teams create their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid without needing permission from the core team. The outlet said HIP-3 has already driven meaningful trading volume in non-crypto assets, though it didn't publish any figures to back that up.
The link between the two ideas is easy to see. Yan's complaint is about gatekeeping, and HIP-3 is built so the core team doesn't sit at the gate for new markets.
A lean team courting Korean institutions
Crypto Briefing described Hyperliquid as one of the highest-volume perpetuals platforms in crypto, reporting that it runs with a team of roughly 11 people and was built without any venture capital funding. Yan built the platform on his background in quantitative trading, and the team funded operations internally. Hyperliquid also ran a major airdrop of its HYPE token in late 2024, distributing tokens directly to users.
The Seoul talk didn't come out of nowhere. Per the same report, Hyperliquid held a dedicated seminar on September 28, a day before the main conference, aimed at Korean financial institutions exploring on-chain trading. That's a specific audience (institutions, not retail traders), and it sits a little awkwardly next to remarks about prying open institution-only markets.
Yan wasn't the only name on the bill. Arthur Hayes and Tom Lee were among the featured speakers at KBW 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is Jeff Yan's case for on-chain private markets?
At Korea Blockchain Week 2026, Yan said asset classes historically restricted to institutions hold "huge opportunities" and argued that wealth and investment opportunities have been gate-kept. He called better on-chain infrastructure for restricted assets "socially beneficial" and framed it around access rather than pure profit, according to Crypto Briefing.
What is HIP-3 on Hyperliquid?
HIP-3 is an initiative that lets independent teams create their own perpetual markets on Hyperliquid without needing permission from the core team. Crypto Briefing called it the technical backbone of Yan's private markets vision and said it has driven meaningful volume in non-crypto assets, though it gave no figures.
