Hyperliquid Co-founder Jeff Yan says 24-hour clock is not onchain finance's true differentiator

Hyperliquid (HYPE) Co-founder Jeff Yan said at Korea Blockchain Week that around-the-clock trading is not what sets onchain venues apart from traditional exchanges.

Speaking in a fireside chat at Korea Blockchain Week 2026, Yan pointed out that crypto never needed conventional market hours because the asset class is inherently international, and that traditional exchanges have begun extending sessions.

Instead, Yan said onchain's lasting advantages come from allowing users to keep custody of their own funds, which helps prevent a common point of failure.

"Onchain finance really, at its core, means that users have still retained control and custody of their funds. I think that’s the number one thing," Yan said. "It does matter during critical moments when there are issues with counterparties, intermediaries, and custodians."

Another defining aspect of onchain trading is transparency, Yan said, despite not having the "mass appeal" for day-to-day users. 

"It's extremely important for users to be able to know in theory everything that is going on with the system," Yan said. "Because that level of trust and neutrality of the system that you just do not have with a system that is controlled by one private organization."

Private markets

Yan argued those traits, not the length of a trading session, are what onchain markets truly offer users. Still, he said continuous hours still matter for assets that have no public price when traditional exchanges are closed. As an example, he pointed to commodities, equities, and pre-IPO names that traded on Hyperliquid while reference markets were closed as evidence of demand.

When asked what assets might next trade around the clock that do not have a continuous price today, Yan pointed to private markets.

"Private markets, I think, are a big opportunity and you see a little bit of that on Hyperliquid already," Yan said. "Right now a lot of wealth is being created in a way that is really gate-kept."

While the Hyperliquid founder clarified that he does not think such "gate-keeping" is done with ill intentions, he said there is potential to break that trend.

"I think just allowing price discovery in the world globally on these assets that ultimately will be extremely valuable for society and will represent core parts of the economy as early as possible, and doing it in a way that is not confined to one jurisdiction, but rather just kind of a global financial system, I think, has a lot of promise," Yan said.