What is HIP-3?
HIP-3 is the third formal Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal. It defines the rules and economics under which approved third-party deployers can list new perpetual contracts on the Hyperliquid L1 without case-by-case approval from the Hyperliquid team. HIP-1 handles spot token listings; HIP-2 handles spot liquidity provisioning; HIP-3 specifically governs perpetual market deployment, which was historically only possible by the Hyperliquid core team.
Why does HIP-3 matter for RWA perps?
HIP-3 is the reason gold, silver, crude oil, the S&P 500, Tesla, and other real-world assets can be traded as perpetuals on Hyperliquid. Without HIP-3, these markets would require Hyperliquid's core team to deploy them one by one — a bottleneck. With HIP-3, third parties like trade.xyz can deploy an entire RWA market cluster while Hyperliquid retains technical and risk oversight. The trade-off: HIP-3 deployers post a bond and commit to oracle integrity; in return they earn a share of fees from their deployed markets.
Who can deploy markets under HIP-3?
Deployer eligibility is gated by the Hyperliquid team. Approved deployers post a deposit, agree to listing standards, and integrate with vetted oracle sources. As of early 2026, trade.xyz is the most prominent third-party HIP-3 deployer, having launched the gold, silver, oil, and major equity perp markets. The exact deployer onboarding criteria are evolving and published in the Hyperliquid docs.
Do HIP-3 markets settle on the same chain as crypto perps?
Yes. This is the structurally important fact. A HIP-3-deployed gold market and a Hyperliquid core BTC market live on the same L1, use the same order book engine, the same matching infrastructure, and the same settlement layer. Cross-frontends (ARX, app.hyperliquid.xyz, trade.xyz, third-party tools) all read and write to the same shared state. That means anything tradable via one frontend is tradable via any compliant frontend at the same price and depth.
What are the risks specific to HIP-3 markets?
Two risks differ from native Hyperliquid perps. First, oracle risk: HIP-3 markets rely on the deployer's selected oracle for spot reference price. A bad oracle feed could distort funding rates and trigger inappropriate liquidations. Second, delisting risk: if a deployer fails to maintain the market (oracle outage, regulatory issue, low volume), the market can be wound down on a defined notice period. Position holders are entitled to settlement at the fair price, but the market itself disappears. Hyperliquid documents this in the deployer-grade-of-service spec.