Jeff Yan is a software developer and entrepreneur known as the co-founder and CEO of Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on a proprietary Layer 1 blockchain. A first-generation Chinese-American, Yan blends a worldview of Western ambition with Eastern values of humility and a strong work ethic. ^[3] With a background in computer science and high-frequency trading from the traditional finance sector, Yan is recognized for his unconventional approach to building in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, notably his rejection of venture capital funding in favor of a self-funded, community-centric model. ^{[1] [4]}

Education

Yan attended Harvard University, graduating in 2017 with an AB/SM in Mathematics and Computer Science. While in high school, he won a gold medal for the United States in the 2013 International Physics Olympiad. ^[3]

Career

Jeff Yan's career is defined by his transition from traditional finance to the cryptocurrency industry, culminating in the creation of Hyperliquid. After graduating from Harvard, he worked at Hudson River Trading, a high-frequency trading (HFT) and market-making firm, where he gained experience in engineering and quantitative finance. ^{[3] [5]}

In 2018, Yan left traditional finance to develop a Layer 2 exchange protocol for prediction markets, though the project was later shut down due to regulatory uncertainty. He then founded Chameleon Trading, a crypto market-making firm that became one of the largest on centralized exchanges by early 2020. The collapse of FTX in late 2022 highlighted the inefficiencies and risks of existing crypto infrastructure, motivating Yan to shift his focus to building a more robust and transparent decentralized exchange. ^[3]

As CEO of Hyperliquid, Yan oversees a small, close-knit team of 11 full-time members split between engineering and operations. He advocates for a highly selective hiring process, operating under the principle that "hiring the wrong person is much worse than not hiring anyone at all." This approach is intended to preserve a high-integrity, focused company culture. ^{[1] [3]}

Founding of Hyperliquid

Yan co-founded Hyperliquid to address what he perceived as fragmentation and performance limitations in the existing crypto ecosystem, with the goal of merging the user experience of centralized exchanges with the security and transparency of DeFi. ^[3] The project's core is a proprietary Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically to "House All Finance," aiming to create a single, high-performance venue for building, value creation, and asset exchange. ^[2] The flagship application built on this blockchain is the Hyperliquid decentralized perpetuals exchange (DEX). ^[1]

Under Yan's direction, the platform was developed with a fully on-chain order book, meaning all trades, funding, and liquidations are processed and recorded directly on the Hyperliquid L1. This architecture was chosen over Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum to avoid high costs for market-making operations and is designed for transparency and performance. The underlying blockchain is reportedly capable of handling up to 200,000 transactions per second. The DEX offers users features such as one-click trading, up to 40x leverage, and a fee structure with zero gas fees and low trading fees. ^{[2] [3]}

Philosophy and Principles

Yan is known for a set of core principles that guide his work at Hyperliquid and his perspective on the broader crypto industry. These principles emphasize organic growth, technical substance, and community value over conventional venture-backed startup strategies. ^[1]

Rejection of Venture Capital

A central tenet of Yan's philosophy is his "anti-VC" stance. Hyperliquid was wholly self-funded from its inception using profits from Yan's trading company, Chameleon Trading. ^[3] Yan has publicly stated his belief that venture capital can create an "illusion of progress" by inflating project valuations without delivering tangible utility. He has also argued that significant early VC ownership can become a "forever a bit of a scar on the network itself." ^[4] By avoiding external investors, he aimed to align the project's long-term success exclusively with its community. The project's official stance reflects this, stating, "No investors. No paid market makers. No fees to any company." ^{[1] [2]}

Community-Centric Model

Consistent with his rejection of VC funding, Yan structured Hyperliquid's economic model to be community-first. The protocol is described as "not focused on making a profit" for a central company. Instead, all fees generated by the exchange are distributed back to the ecosystem's participants, including liquidity providers and the platform's insurance fund, with the development team taking no share. ^[3] This model is designed to create a self-sustaining ecosystem where value accrues directly to users. The native token, HYPE, was created to further this goal by enabling community members to own, govern, and secure the network. The "Hyperliquid genesis event" in November 2024 distributed 31% of the HYPE supply to users based on their activity. ^{[3] [6]}

Product-Led Growth and Substance

Yan prioritizes technical development and product performance over marketing and speculative hype. He believes in organic growth, where users are attracted to the platform based on its technical merits and user experience. This strategy includes avoiding partnerships with paid market makers and deliberately not pursuing listings on major centralized exchanges, which he feels could compromise the project's authenticity. ^[1] He has also defended the platform's fully transparent on-chain order book, arguing that equal access to data creates a fair and competitive environment for all traders. ^[3]

He has advised other builders in the crypto industry to focus on creating projects with "real substance as opposed to just surface-level appeal." Yan's personal motivation aligns with this perspective; he has stated that his experience in trading taught him that "money is really just a number," and he is not primarily driven by financial gain. ^[1]

Hyperliquid Project

As the primary focus of Yan's career, the Hyperliquid project reflects his technical and philosophical goals. The project's vision is to create a foundational blockchain for all of finance, with the perpetuals DEX serving as its first major application. ^[2]

Technology and Ecosystem

The long-term vision for the Hyperliquid L1 is to expand its capabilities beyond the DEX to support a wide range of financial applications. Yan stated, “The focus now is to really just make this blockchain as performant and scalable, and have all the right features to build all the finance on that blockchain.” ^[1]

Key technical features and ecosystem components include:

• HyperEVM: An Ethereum-compatible virtual machine launched on the Hyperliquid L1 in February 2025. The launch was executed with no downtime or performance degradation, allowing developers to build financial applications directly on the blockchain. ^{[3] [6]}
• Order Matching Engine: The system includes a mechanism to deprioritize fast "taker" orders under certain conditions to prevent latency arbitrage and encourage market makers to provide tighter spreads. ^[3]
• Hyperliquid Pool (HLP): The platform's sole, protocol-owned liquidity pool, which is open for any user to deposit into, ensuring decentralized liquidity provision. ^[3]
• Ecosystem Projects: The L1 supports other financial applications, including Felix (a collateralized debt position protocol) and HyperLend (a lending protocol). ^[3]

Market Adoption and Milestones

Since its launch in 2023, Hyperliquid has achieved significant traction. Within two years, the platform grew to over 545,000 users and captured over 70% of the perpetual contract trading market share among DEXs. ^[3]

Notable milestones and integrations include:

• November 2024: The HYPE token launched, with a significant portion allocated to community members. ^[3]
• July 2025: The Phantom wallet team launched "Phantom Perps," a perpetuals trading feature using Hyperliquid as its core infrastructure. ^[6]
• July 2025: Nasdaq-listed Sonnet BioTherapeutics announced plans to create an $888 million entity to hold HYPE tokens and rebrand itself to Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. ^[3]
• October 2025: During a period of high market volatility, the platform maintained 100% uptime with zero bad debt and executed its first cross-margin auto-deleveraging (ADL) event in over two years. ^[6]