While most of crypto is fixated on Hyperliquid’s meteoric rise as a trading venue — undercutting Binance on fees and onboarding a cult-like trader base — another narrative is quietly playing out beneath the surface. One that early observers might be able to position around before the rest of the market catches on.

HyperUnit is a standalone infrastructure layer that’s become the backbone for onboarding native BTC and ETH to Hyperliquid. But it doesn’t just bridge assets; it also controls the two most important spot markets on the platform: UBTC and UETH. These markets have already cleared billions in volume and are deeply integrated into HL’s trader workflows.

Excited to see Unit protocol hit mainnet! For the first time, users can trade native assets from another chain using the seamless UX of Hyperliquid.

BTC is the most important crypto asset and historically the most difficult to bring to defi. Most wrapped BTC options today… https://t.co/NzyYO6NX1x

— jeff.hl (@chameleon_jeff) February 14, 2025

And here’s what makes that interesting: Unit is not part of the Hyperliquid core team.