# Hyperliquid 6 Hacker News commenters recommended Hyperliquid and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Non-custodial on-chain perpetuals exchange where you keep USDC in your own wallet and it handles heavy volume. Critics say its closed-source validators are centralized. ## Why people recommend it - Non-custodial, you keep your own USDC (2 comments): "HyperLiquid is also non-custodial, you keep USDC in a self-owned wallet on the Arbitrum network" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50266663)) "they are non-custodial which is great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50267041)) - On-chain and proven at high volume (2 comments): "today Hyperliquid does it on chain and very popular" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46171890)) "HL has been tested up to $8bn/day in volume" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48083076)) ## What people warn about - Closed-source validators run by affiliates (3 comments): "They handed out a closed source binary and the validators ran it immediately, closing out the market at an arbitrary price." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172037)) "closed source piece of software run by closely controlled "validators" with additionally centralised components" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172005)) "They have like 5 validating nodes and all operated by HyperLiquid affiliates." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50263368)) - Not truly decentralized (4 comments): "There are other exchanges that are much more centralised, like Hyperliquid, and it is incorrect to call these decentralised." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172450)) "This experience raised concerns about the true decentralization and automation of the exchange." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400503)) "Decentralization means to run all of the closed-source nodes in the same AWS datacenter!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46171893)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [CZR Exchange](https://hackerapproved.com/p/czr-exchange.md): 22 recommend - [Coinbase](https://hackerapproved.com/p/coinbase.md): 12 recommend - [Binance](https://hackerapproved.com/p/binance.md): 10 recommend - [Kraken](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kraken.md): 7 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://hyperliquid.xyz/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Hyperliquid", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyperliquid/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).