ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood has drawn a parallel between Hyperliquid and Solana’s early rise, calling the decentralized exchange “the new kid on the block.” “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 big boys,” Wood said during a recent interview on the Master Investor podcast. Wood explained that while ARK Invest has not disclosed any holdings in Hyperliquid, the protocol’s growth is one she is closely monitoring. Her comments come at a time when competition among perpetual futures decentralized exchanges (DEXs) is intensifying. Aster, another player in the space, launched its token earlier this month and has already seen its trading volume and open interest surpass Hyperliquid’s. ARK Invest’s Focus on Core Assets ARK Invest currently maintains exposure to three major cryptocurrencies across its public funds: Bitcoin (BTC $111,777), Ethereum (ETH $4,118), and Solana (SOL $210.18). Wood noted that the firm’s Solana exposure is connected to Breera Sports, which is tied to the Solana treasury and backed by Middle Eastern investors. She added that economist Art Laffer has advisory links to the project. While the fund has diversified into some derivative protocols like Uniswap and Solana-related markets, Wood stressed that its core focus remains narrow by design. “If you’re talking about the big boys or girls, those are the big three right now,” she said. Bitcoin’s Enduring Dominance Despite the explosion of tokens and new protocols, Wood argued that the long-term future of crypto belongs to a select group of networks. “We don’t think there are going to be very many cryptocurrencies,” she said. “Bitcoin owns the cryptocurrency space when it comes to pure crypto.” Wood emphasized Bitcoin’s role as a monetary system with a fixed supply and resilience, contrasting it with Ethereum’s role powering decentralized finance. She also noted the growing importance of stablecoins but reiterated that Bitcoin remains central to ARK’s long-term thesis. Retail and Quant Traders Drive DEX Growth According to Bitget Wallet’s chief marketing officer Jamie Elkaleh, decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid are seeing a surge in activity from retail traders and semi-professional quants. Incentives such as airdrops, low fees, and fast execution are helping drive this shift. Institutions, however, still prefer centralized exchanges for their fiat access, compliance, and brokerage support. Yet the performance gap between DEXs and CEXs is narrowing, with order-book platforms such as Hyperliquid and dYdX v4 now offering execution speeds and liquidity previously limited to centralized venues.
