Source snapshot: November 9, 2026, at 17:47:41 UTC+8. Based on reporting by Gu Yu at ChainCatcher.
Kinetiq’s Elysium network launched its mainnet on November 9, 2026, according to ChainCatcher. The Layer 2 is designed to expand application capacity around Hyperliquid, using HYPE for gas and settling on HyperEVM rather than Ethereum.
The central market question is whether that additional capacity can support sustained spot trading and broader application use. Early infrastructure support and token launches show developer interest, but they do not establish durable liquidity or demand.
The starting point: strong perpetuals, weaker spot activity
ChainCatcher described a widening gap between Hyperliquid’s perpetual-futures business and its spot and DeFi activity. At the time of reporting:
- Hyperliquid’s spot volume relative to Binance had fallen to a 15-month low.
- Activity in HIP-2’s automated market-making mechanism was at its lowest since the fourth quarter of 2024.
- Solana’s on-chain spot volume, described as being led by proprietary automated market makers, or PropAMMs, had remained more than 30 times HyperCore’s spot volume.
- Robinhood Chain’s spot volume was reported at approximately 10 times HyperCore’s.
The supplied article did not identify the underlying monitoring provider or give a precise measurement window for the volume multiples. These are therefore attributed comparisons, not independently verified live readings.
Elysium’s proposed response is to connect more of the asset lifecycle: token issuance → initial AMM liquidity → HyperCore spot order books → HIP-3 perpetual markets. The design also aims to let PropAMM-style applications access HyperCore order-book data.
That is a capacity and integration proposition. Whether it improves spot-market depth or price discovery remains an adoption question.
Kinetiq brings an existing ecosystem position
Elysium was built by Kinetiq, the Hyperliquid liquid-staking protocol behind kHYPE. ChainCatcher reported that Kinetiq had more than $1.2 billion in total value locked, alongside institutional staking product iHYPE, yield product Earn, HIP-3 deployment platform Launch and its own perpetuals platform, Markets.
The article identified anonymous developer Omnia, co-CEO Magnus Lai and CTO Justin Greenberg as publicly known co-founders. It also reported an earlier $1.75 million seed round led by Maven 11, with participation from Pier Two, Chorus One, IMC, Flowdesk and Susquehanna Crypto.
This gives Elysium an established distribution base within Hyperliquid. It does not, by itself, demonstrate that staking users or perpetuals traders will become active users of new spot applications.
The technical proposition—and its launch-stage limits
Elysium uses Arbitrum Orbit, Nitro and standard ArbOS, with HyperEVM as its settlement layer and coordination with HyperCore, Hyperliquid’s trading environment.
Its stated performance targets were:
| Metric | Stated target |
|---|---|
| Gas throughput | 300 million gas per second |
| Gas per block | 30 million gas |
| Canonical block interval | Approximately 100 milliseconds |
The official comparison cited in the article put HyperEVM at roughly 30 million gas every 60 seconds, producing the advertised 600-fold difference. That comparison concerns configured gas capacity, not evidence of 600 times more users, trading volume or realized application throughput.
Data availability uses an AnyTrust committee, with full data publication to HyperEVM as an automatic fallback. Withdrawals follow a standard optimistic mechanism. The network runs Conduit’s G2 sequencer; the article described its underlying architecture as meeting “SOC II Type 2” security standards.
At launch, Elysium used a single permissioned sequencer, neutral priority-fee ordering and no privileged transaction lane. MEV telemetry, Timeboost, BoLD-based permissionless fraud proofs and audits were listed as subsequent hardening work. Those roadmap items should not be treated as protections already delivered at launch.
Standard EVM compatibility is intended to support familiar tooling, including MetaMask, Solidity contracts and Uniswap-style pools.
HYPE usage and KNTQ revenue allocation are separate mechanisms
Elysium has no separate network token and no points program. HYPE is its native gas token, tying transaction-fee demand to Hyperliquid’s existing asset rather than introducing another gas economy.
Kinetiq’s disclosed sequencer-revenue allocation was approximately:
- 50% for open-market KNTQ purchases and burns;
- 25% for applications bringing traffic to the network;
- the remainder for the Kinetiq Treasury.
These mechanisms affect different parts of the ecosystem: HYPE pays for network usage, while KNTQ buybacks depend on sequencer revenue. The allocation percentages alone do not establish the eventual size or durability of either demand stream.
ChainCatcher reported that KNTQ rose as much as 30% on the announcement day. That price move is distinct from evidence about operating performance. As the article itself noted, the long-term significance of buybacks depends on actual transaction activity and revenue, not merely the allocation design.
Broad launch support, but a concentrated application mix
Before mainnet opened, announced support included Uniswap, KyberSwap, 0x, OpenSea, Derive, xStocks, Wormhole and Mayan, spanning trading, liquidity, derivatives, NFTs, tokenized assets and cross-chain infrastructure.
ChainCatcher compared that partner-led rollout with two other launches it reported in 2026: Circle’s Arc on September 16, with more than 190 ecosystem partners and backing from 11 traditional finance and payments institutions, including Mastercard and Visa; and Robinhood Chain on July 1, with nearly 100 projects announcing support.
Within Elysium, launchpads were especially prominent. The article reported that more than a dozen had announced support within weeks of testnet launch and that thousands of tokens had been created. ElyScreener emerged as a tool for tracking that fragmented token activity.
The reported ecosystem included:
- Liquidity infrastructure: Uniswap, KyberSwap, Aero and ArcherSwap.
- Issuance platforms: aka.fun, already launched on Arc mainnet; BunnyPad; PerpMe; Oxley; Neuriio; and official partner Ascend. Their approaches included auction pricing, single-transaction launches, autonomous AI-agent issuance and social-account tokenization.
- Derivatives and prediction markets: Derive V3 and Speculate, with the latter connecting to HIP-4 outcome markets.
- NFTs and games: AtlasHL, slymz, TORPOR, Frog Flip and Eloscape. Eloscape also supported Robinhood Chain and HyperEVM.
The concentration matters: ChainCatcher said that more than half of roughly 30 projects were launchpads or meme-token infrastructure. That mix may generate issuance activity without necessarily building persistent spot liquidity or retaining users over longer periods.
What the launch establishes—and what it does not
Elysium’s launch established a new application environment with substantial announced infrastructure support and a direct connection to Hyperliquid’s ecosystem. It did not yet demonstrate that expanded block capacity would translate into sustained spot-market activity.
The article’s key unresolved questions were actual network transactions and revenue, durable application usage, stronger spot liquidity, and delivery of the security roadmap. Those outcomes matter more than partner counts or tokens created during the opening period.
There is also a specific impersonation risk: according to the report, officials repeatedly warned that purported Elysium tokens, presales and points claims were suspicious, because the network had announced neither a token nor a points program.
Original article by Gu Yu, ChainCatcher, published November 9, 2026, at 17:47:41 UTC+8.