Crypto exchange Hyperliquid will require developers to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $30.4 million, to launch permissionless prediction markets under its HIP-4 upgrade. Deployers will earn 50% of trading fees but risk having their stake slashed for poorly defined or settled markets.

The introduction of permissionless prediction markets on Hyperliquid could significantly expand the types of event-based markets available on-chain, potentially attracting new users and use cases to decentralized finance.
Hyperliquid is preparing to launch permissionless prediction markets through an upcoming enhancement to its HIP-4 upgrade. This feature will allow any user to deploy a prediction market on the platform, moving away from the current model where markets are controlled solely by validators. To launch a market, users will need to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens, which can be forfeited if the market is deemed poorly defined or settled incorrectly by validators. In return for staking and managing markets, deployers will earn up to 50% of the trading fees generated. The platform plans to introduce further features, including fee configurability and an auction mechanism, after the initial rollout on testnet, followed by mainnet. The proposal introduces a capital threshold and slashing mechanism intended to discourage poorly defined or improperly settled markets. Validators will vote on standard outcome templates that deployers can use to create markets, while each deployer will initially be limited to 100 outcomes. The allocation will be released for reuse when a market is settled. Deployers will be responsible for defining and settling their markets according to the settlement criteria specified in each template. Their stake, which will remain locked for six months, may be slashed through a validator vote if their markets are poorly defined, incorrectly settled, or left incorrectly unsettled for more than a week.