Why profitable onchain businesses deserve attention: Hyperliquid and Pump
Quote374 words
Criticizes the industry's habit of launching tokens with no business model, insider discounts and exit-liquidity dynamics. Cites Hyperliquid and Pump as examples of real revenue with aligned tokenomics and buybacks, and calls this a maturation step.
Key claims
Hyperliquid and Pump are among the most profitable apps in crypto
Insiders and VCs often buy at a fraction of the TGE price
While I totally agree with this take, I sometimes srsly wonder why it took us so long to start understanding this.
For years (and even still today) we let ppl launch tokens that have nothing but a fancy promise of “game-changing tech” attached to it, that are supposedly worth billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, no one asked whether the business model makes sense or if/how value accrues to the token, and blinded by a few paid influencer shills + incentive-driven farming activity / wash trading, everyone just pretends that it will only go up bc it’s some sort of “new paradigm” (which it isn’t).
That’s why no rational investor that invests in the “real world” takes us seriously btw.
Bc why would anyone buy some sort perpetually diluted meme-equity with no enforceable shareholder rights and inexistent fundamentals?
Especially knowing that in most cases a few shady insiders and VCs bought the same token at a 1/100 fraction of what it launches at just a few months earlier (on pretty much same fundamentals lol), while the marketing tells you it’s a “generational wealth” opportunity on TGE day.
And while founders sell their bags OTC before the token is even live, half of the team leaves when the cliff ends, and retail serves as the exit liquidity. But because the ecosystem was always dead or the app never had a real user, it doesn’t matter as everyone will have forgotten once the next big fugazi launches the month after.
It’s not all over tho.
Hyperliquid proved that its possible to do things differently, build a real onchain business that works, and align interests properly among team, protocol + ecosystem, and token holders (also without equity-token duality btw).
Pump (and a few others) are now doing the same (to at least some degree) and imo that’s a very important step towards the maturation of our industry. I personally also don’t like memes much, and imo a memecoin launchpad is neither the most innovative nor most sustainable onchain business model to go after, but undoubtedly it’s a good one from a revenue perspective.
Long story short: profitable onchain business cases and sustainable tokenomics do deserve more attention.
Anything else does more damage than id adds value to our industry.
QUOTING @TheDeFinvestor
I am not a big fan of memecoins, but I like to see that $PUMP is surging. Like Hyperliquid, Pump Fun is one of the most profitable apps in this space and is spending a lot of money on buybacks. On-chain businesses that return value to token holders deserve more attention. http
I am not a big fan of memecoins, but I like to see that $PUMP is surging. Like Hyperliquid, Pump Fun is one of the most profitable apps in this space and is spending a lot of money on buybacks. On-chain businesses that return value to token holders deserve more attention. http
What came next · since 15 Aug 2026
Show how the covered asset moved
This market take reads the setup without making a call on the token, so price moves since publication are shown as market context.
Covered, no call
$PUMPPump.funbullish tone, no call+61%+24% vs BTC
Since then
No follow-up pieces on this subject yet. This is the latest take.
Daily closes in USD from DefiLlama and Yahoo Finance. Only a bullish or bearish call in a thesis or market take is tracked; explainers, lists, maps and mentions are neutral context. Not financial advice.