HyperEVM already has real protocols with real money in them, so the useful question is no longer “what could be built here?” It is “which apps are people actually using, and what risk am I taking when I connect?”
This guide is a beginner-friendly map of the HyperEVM protocol stack as of May 21, 2026. The TVL numbers below come from DeFiLlama’s Hyperliquid L1 data, which tracks 71 protocols and about $1.67B in chain-level TVL. Some figures blend HyperCore and HyperEVM exposure, so treat them as useful snapshots, not permanent rankings.
The goal is not to crown one winner in each category. It is to help you recognize the main names: Kinetiq, HyperLend, Morpho, Project X, HyperSwap, Felix, Pendle, Rysk, hypurr.fun, alt.fun, and the official Hyperliquid Bridge. If you are new, start small, use a separate wallet, and assume any new app can break.
Quick takeaway: HyperEVM’s biggest live categories are liquid staking, lending, DEXs, derivatives, stablecoins, yield vaults, bridges, and meme launchers — with Kinetiq kHYPE, HyperLend, Morpho, Hyperliquid Bridge, and HLP among the largest tracked names as of May 21, 2026.
1. Liquid staking: Kinetiq, stHYPE, Hyperbeat
Liquid staking is the biggest category on HyperEVM by a wide margin. You stake HYPE, receive a liquid token back, and can often use that token elsewhere in DeFi. That makes it convenient, but it also adds smart-contract and peg risk.
- Kinetiq kHYPE: about $1.05B in TVL, per DeFiLlama on May 21, 2026. kHYPE is a yield-bearing HYPE token, and Kinetiq is the dominant LST provider in the current data.
- stHYPE: about $189.1M in TVL, with two audits listed on DeFiLlama. It is the second-largest liquid staking name in the dataset.
- Kinetiq kmHYPE: about $40.5M in TVL. This is Kinetiq’s MEV/restaking-style variant.
- Hyperbeat LST: about $16.3M in TVL. Its beHYPE token is built with Etherfi, per the research file.
Beginner note: an LST is not the same thing as plain HYPE. If the token trades below its expected value during stress, you may take a loss even if staking itself keeps working.
2. DEXs: Hyperliquid spot, Project X, Valantis, HyperSwap
DEXs are where most users first touch an ecosystem. On HyperEVM, there are two different mental models: Hyperliquid’s native order books on HyperCore, and EVM smart-contract DEXs like Project X, Valantis, HyperSwap, Ramses, Curve, and Kittenswap.
- Hyperliquid Spot OB: about $132.0M in TVL. This is the native Hyperliquid spot order book, not a normal Uniswap-style AMM.
- Project X: about $42.9M in TVL. It is one of the main HyperEVM-native DEX names to know.
- Valantis STEX: about $18.4M in TVL, with two audits listed. STEX is built for staked assets, so it matters if you are swapping around HYPE LSTs.
- HyperSwap V3: about $9.4M in TVL, plus another $4.9M in HyperSwap V2. It is a concentrated liquidity AMM, similar in feel to Uniswap V3.
- NEST V1: about $9.1M in TVL.
- Ramses HL: about $4.0M in TVL, with two audits listed. Ramses uses concentrated liquidity plus ve(3,3)-style incentives.
For small swaps, the user experience may feel simple: choose token, check price impact, sign. The risk is that small pools can have rough slippage. For any low-liquidity token, compare quotes across Project X, HyperSwap, Valantis, and an aggregator like HyperBloom before signing.
3. Lending: HyperLend, Morpho, HypurrFi, Euler
Lending markets are where HyperEVM starts to feel like a full DeFi chain. You can deposit collateral, borrow against it, loop positions, and earn points or yield. That also means liquidation risk becomes real.
- HyperLend Pooled: about $484.7M in TVL, with two audits listed. This is the largest tracked lending market on HyperEVM.
- Morpho Blue: about $361.3M on HyperEVM, with two audits listed. Morpho is also large outside HyperEVM, with about $7.5B total TVL in the research snapshot.
- HypurrFi Pooled: about $17.0M in TVL, with two audits listed. HypurrFi supports collateralized borrowing, looping, and leverage.
- Euler V2: about $2.5M in TVL, with two audits listed.
@RyFiCrypto noted in May 2026 that HypurrFi’s HYPE/UETH pools were showing around 71% utilization with active points tracking. That can be attractive, but high utilization also means borrow rates and withdrawal conditions can move fast. If you borrow, know your liquidation price before you click confirm.
4. Derivatives and vaults: HLP, Rysk, Derive, Hypersurface
Hyperliquid started with perps, so derivatives are part of the culture here. The cleanest example is Hyperliquid HLP, the native liquidity provider vault for Hyperliquid perps. DeFiLlama showed about $374.7M in HLP TVL on May 21, 2026.
HLP is not a savings account. It earns from market-making activity and fees, but it can lose money when traders win against the pool or when markets move violently. Hyperliquid’s JELLY perp manipulation incident in March 2025 did not lead to user fund losses, per the research file, but it did show why illiquid perp markets deserve respect.
Other derivatives names to know:
- Rysk V12: about $70.0M in TVL. Rysk is an options protocol on HyperEVM.
- Derive V2: about $43.2M in TVL. Derive also focuses on options and derivatives.
- Hypersurface: about $3.5M in TVL. It is also in the options category and has Base exposure.
Vault culture is also active around Hyperliquid. @reisnertobias highlighted pmalt by @hyperbulla and HyperGrowth by @SystemicStratHL in May 2026. Those are community vault references, not beginner recommendations. If you use any trader-run vault, read the strategy, check drawdowns, and understand how withdrawals work.
5. Stablecoins and CDPs: Felix, Hyperstable, Parallel
CDP protocols let users borrow a synthetic dollar or stablecoin-like asset against collateral. The big HyperEVM name here is Felix.
- Felix CDP: about $46.3M in TVL, with two audits listed. It is the dominant CDP/stablecoin protocol in the research data.
- Felix Vaults: about $73.5M in TVL. These use Morpho Vaults and an onchain capital allocator model.
- Parallel Protocol: about $364,000 in TVL.
- Hyperstable CDP: about $148,000 in TVL.
CDPs are useful when you want liquidity without selling collateral. They are dangerous when you treat borrowed dollars like free money. If HYPE falls hard and your collateral ratio breaks, the protocol can liquidate you.
6. Yield products: Kinetiq Earn, Hyperbeat Earn, Pendle, Looped Hype
Yield products are where beginners need the most patience. A clean interface can hide five layers of risk underneath it.
- Kinetiq Earn: about $56.1M in TVL. It is powered by Veda, per the research file.
- Hyperbeat Earn: about $30.3M in TVL.
- Pendle: about $19.2M on HyperEVM, with two audits listed. Pendle tokenizes future yield, which is powerful but not simple.
- Looped Hype: about $16.7M in TVL, with two audits listed. It uses recursive HYPE leverage.
- GrowiHF: about $8.4M in TVL.
- Harmonix Finance: about $4.1M in TVL.
@Astro_ofweb3 described Altura Vault on HyperEVM in May 2026 as targeting 20-30% APY with market-neutral strategies and Merkl incentives. That kind of number is worth reading twice. It may be real, but the source matters: incentives, leverage, basis trades, option premiums, or liquidity rewards all fail in different ways.
7. Meme launchers: hypurr.fun, alt.fun, SpinUp, fan.fun
Meme launchers are where the chain gets loud. They let teams or random users launch tokens quickly, often through bonding curves or simple templates. They can be fun. They can also turn a wallet balance into a lesson in five minutes.
- hypurr.fun: a known HyperEVM meme coin launchpad. It is not individually tracked by DeFiLlama in the research snapshot.
- alt.fun: another HyperEVM meme token launch platform. It is also not individually tracked by DeFiLlama.
- SpinUp Launchpad: about $12,000 in TVL, per DeFiLlama.
- fan.fun: about $39,000 in TVL, listed in the SoFi category.
- stash.fun: about $1,000 in TVL.
@HypedLaunches was one of the accounts curating new HyperEVM launches in the May 2026 X research. That can help you find what is moving, but it does not make a token safe. Treat meme launcher money as money you can lose.
8. Bridges: official Hyperliquid Bridge first
Most beginners should start with the official Hyperliquid Bridge. DeFiLlama showed about $1.27B in TVL on HyperEVM and about $5.29B total TVL for the Hyperliquid Bridge on May 21, 2026. It supports the native route and uses CCTP for USDC on Arbitrum, per the research file.
Other bridge or bridge-adjacent names include:
- Hyperlane: about $119,000 on HyperEVM and about $156.9M total TVL.
- Ring Few: about $3.3M in TVL.
- Symbiosis: about $139,000 on HyperEVM.
- Stargate, DeBridge, and Jumper: listed as bridge options in Hyperliquid-related docs and ecosystem research.
Bridge mistakes are often expensive. Use the official URL, send a small test amount first, and make sure you are bridging the asset you think you are bridging. A fake bridge site can look cleaner than the real one.
Wallets and explorers to keep open
HyperEVM uses Chain ID 999, RPC https://rpc.hyperliquid.xyz/evm, and HYPE as the gas token. Rabby and MetaMask are the safest default picks for most users. Hyperliquid’s GitBook explicitly calls out Rabby, and the research found Rabby had the best custom network management. MetaMask is the most tested fallback.
Other wallets can work, including Frame, Rainbow, Coinbase Wallet, OKX Wallet, Trust Wallet, Phantom, Backpack, Zerion, and Bitget Wallet. But none of them auto-discovers HyperEVM cleanly. Ledger and Trezor devices can sign HyperEVM transactions through Rabby or MetaMask, but Ledger Live and Trezor Suite do not natively support HyperEVM.
Keep an explorer handy before you panic. HyperEVM activity can be checked on Hyperevmscan, Hyperscan, or Hypurrscan. If a dApp UI is slow or wrong, the explorer is usually a better source of truth.
How to evaluate a HyperEVM protocol in five minutes
- Check the official link. Use the project’s docs, verified X account, DeFiLlama page, or Hyperliquid ecosystem directory. Do not trust a sponsored search result.
- Check TVL, but do not worship it. $484.7M in HyperLend tells you more than $40,000 in a brand-new app, but TVL is not a safety guarantee.
- Look for audits. HyperLend, Morpho, HypurrFi, Felix CDP, Looped Hype, Pendle, Ramses, stHYPE, Euler V2, Valantis, and Curve had audits listed in the research. Many smaller protocols had zero listed audits.
- Ask where yield comes from. Trading fees, staking rewards, borrow interest, incentives, leverage, and options premiums are different risks.
- Start with a burner wallet. Use Rabby or MetaMask with a small amount of HYPE for gas. Do not connect your main wallet to every new launch.
Security stack for an active HyperEVM user
HyperEVM rewards curiosity, but every protocol adds another signing surface. Keep your main funds away from daily experiments. Use a separate wallet for new apps, cap token approvals when your wallet allows it, and revoke old approvals after you are done.
Sign HyperEVM transactions from a Ledger
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Bottom line
You do not need to use every HyperEVM protocol. Start with the big, legible names, such as Kinetiq for liquid staking, HyperLend or Morpho for lending, Project X or HyperSwap for swaps, Felix for CDPs, and the official Hyperliquid Bridge for moving funds. Then go slower than the timeline wants you to go.