Hyperliquid’s HIP-4 Is the Most Direct Threat Polymarket Has Faced
Hyperliquid is the last thing Polymarket needed right now. The decentralized exchange, already one of the most active crypto trading venues in the world, is publicly testing a plan to move into prediction markets. The proposal is called HIP-4. If it ships, traders will be able to place binary bets on real-world outcomes, elections, macro events, crypto prices, directly inside the same margin account they use for perpetual futures. No switching platforms. No moving funds. Thats a bigger deal than it sounds. Kalshi Is Already Inside the Room Here‘s the twist. HIP-4 wasn’t built by Hyperliquid alone. John Wang, head of crypto at Kalshi, co-authored the proposal, and the two companies formalized a partnership back in March to bring on-chain prediction markets to life together. That partnership is exactly why Polymarket is the one sitting most exposed here, Kalshi didnt just fail to block a competitor from entering, it handed one a roadmap. Both Kalshi and Polymarket have been moving fast. On April 21, they announced plans to launch crypto perpetual futures within hours of each other. Dueling press releases, same product, same day. It was the clearest sign yet that these two platforms are now openly at war over product territory. But the