Kyle Samani, chairman of Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries and a prominent Solana-aligned executive, has publicly condemned Hyperliquid, describing the platform as a symbol of “everything wrong with crypto.” His criticism targets both Hyperliquid’s founder, Jeff Yan, and the exchange’s architectural design, raising allegations that clash sharply with how many users perceive the platform. The remarks arrive at a pivotal moment, as Hyperliquid prepares to launch HIP-4 markets, a development that could materially expand its role in outcome-based trading. While Samani’s claims remain largely opinion-driven and unproven, Hyperliquid’s rapid growth, rising volumes, and expanding market primitives continue to reshape the competitive crypto trading landscape.

Kyle Samani’s Broadside Against Hyperliquid

Kyle Samani, the chairman of Forward Industries—a Nasdaq-listed entity now operating as a treasury vehicle centered on Solana exposure—has ignited controversy by publicly denouncing Hyperliquid and its founder, Jeff Yan. Samani’s remarks framed Hyperliquid as the embodiment of structural and philosophical failures within the crypto ecosystem, a stark and provocative characterization that immediately drew industry attention.

Samani’s criticism was notable not just for its tone, but for its timing. The comments surfaced as Hyperliquid prepares to roll out HIP-4 markets, a feature designed to enable prediction-market-style outcome trading. The convergence of public condemnation and product expansion has fueled speculation over whether Samani’s remarks reflect genuine ethical concern or entrenched ecosystem rivalry.

While Samani offered limited substantiation, his assertions were sweeping, touching on governance, transparency, and the platform’s broader societal implications. The blunt nature of the critique has divided observers, with some interpreting it as principled alarm and others as competitive posturing.

Allegations Targeting Hyperliquid’s Founder and Platform Structure

At the core of Samani’s critique lies a series of claims directed at Hyperliquid’s founder, Jeff Yan, a figure known for maintaining a deliberately low public profile. Samani alleged that Yan was forced to flee his home country in pursuit of the freedom necessary to build Hyperliquid, framing the narrative as one of escape rather than opportunity.

More controversially, Samani asserted that Hyperliquid now “brazenly facilitates crime and terror,” while operating as a closed-source, permissioned platform—an accusation that cuts directly against decentralization principles often celebrated in crypto communities.

These claims remain highly contentious. There is no legal evidence establishing that Hyperliquid facilitates terrorism, and public information indicates that Yan’s relocation was motivated by the desire to build in a more favorable regulatory and entrepreneurial environment. The allegations, while incendiary, rest largely on opinion rather than verifiable documentation.

Nevertheless, the remarks have amplified scrutiny around Hyperliquid’s governance model and technical architecture, particularly as the platform expands into more complex financial primitives.

Ecosystem Rivalry and Questions of Motive

Samani’s deep involvement in the Solana ecosystem has inevitably raised questions about motive. Hyperliquid operates independently of Solana’s core infrastructure, and its rapid rise as a high-performance trading venue positions it as both a complement and a competitor to Solana-native financial applications.

The crypto industry has long been shaped by tribal alignments, and Samani’s remarks cannot be entirely separated from broader ecosystem dynamics. While rivalry alone does not invalidate criticism, it complicates interpretation, particularly when allegations extend beyond technical critique into moral condemnation.

What is clear is that Samani’s statements directly contradict the reasons many users cite for Hyperliquid’s appeal, including its performance, rapid iteration, and expanding product scope. This tension underscores a familiar fault line in crypto discourse: ideological purity versus pragmatic adoption.

Hyperliquid’s Continued Expansion Amid Criticism

Despite mounting criticism, Hyperliquid has continued to execute aggressively on its development roadmap. The platform has sustained strong growth through continuous iteration, with each upgrade broadening its addressable market and reinforcing user engagement.

At the start of the month, Hyperliquid announced the forthcoming launch of HIP-4 markets, positioning them as a new class of fully collateralized outcome contracts. According to the platform’s official communication, these contracts settle within a fixed range and function as a general-purpose primitive, suitable for prediction markets and bounded options-like instruments.

This expansion builds directly on the momentum generated by the HIP-3 upgrade, which introduced permissionless perpetual markets. That earlier enhancement enabled market participants to tokenize exposure to traditional assets, including Nasdaq futures, gold, and foreign exchange instruments.

HIP-3’s Market Impact and Explosive Trading Growth

The HIP-3 upgrade has proven to be a pivotal inflection point for Hyperliquid’s growth trajectory. By allowing permissionless perpetual markets tied to real-world assets, the platform significantly expanded its relevance beyond crypto-native traders.

Trading activity surged following HIP-3’s implementation. Through its leading market provider, TradeXYZ, Hyperliquid processed more than $12 billion in volume—approximately four times the volume recorded prior to the upgrade. This growth has been widely cited as a primary driver behind the strong performance of Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token throughout the year.

The data suggests that, irrespective of ideological disputes, market participants have responded decisively to Hyperliquid’s expanding utility and liquidity profile.

HIP-4 and the Case for Prediction-Market Infrastructure

Looking ahead, analysts are increasingly focused on the implications of the upcoming HIP-4 launch. Sam Ruskin, a research analyst at Messari, has publicly speculated that HIP-4 could prove particularly bullish for pre-IPO trading activity on Hyperliquid.

Ruskin contextualized his view within a broader macro narrative, noting the emergence of what he described as “the most news-driven IPO cycle ever”, citing potential public listings tied to companies such as OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic.

Traditional pre-IPO perpetual contracts, Ruskin argued, suffer from a fundamental flaw: reliance on opaque, unverified private data. This creates asymmetric risk for both market makers and takers, discouraging participation at scale.

Eliminating Oracle Risk and Redefining Market Design

Ruskin’s analysis highlights a key structural advantage of prediction markets over conventional derivatives. By design, prediction markets can eliminate the need for external oracles—often a major source of risk and manipulation in decentralized finance.

Without oracles, liquidation risk is reduced, and incentives for toxic flow diminish. Ruskin suggested that this architecture could enable a self-referential system in which pre-IPO perpetual markets derive pricing and settlement directly from prediction market outcomes.

Such a framework would represent an end-to-end trading system, tightly integrated and internally consistent, potentially addressing many of the structural weaknesses that have plagued earlier attempts at pre-IPO trading in crypto markets.