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Jeff’s background in traditional finance and crypto prop‑trading seeded Hyperliquid’s founding
  • Jeff studied math and CS at Harvard, then worked at Hudson River Trading, gaining rigorous market‑making experience.
  • After moving into crypto prop‑trading, he saw a gap for a high‑performance, trust‑less exchange.
  • This blend of traditional market discipline and crypto agility shaped Hyperliquid’s engineering ethos.
  • The team’s small size reflects a “lean startup” mentality rooted in his prop‑trading past.
JeffBell Curve00:02:26

Supporting quotes

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00:02:26
“I lead Hyperlid development and we're a super small team.” — Jeff
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00:02:34
“I grew up in the US, went to school at Harvard, studied math and CS and after school went to do market making in Tradfi, so at a firm called Hudson River Trading.” — Jeff

From this concept

Hyperliquid Origin: From FTX Collapse to L1 Vision

Jeff Yan explains how his background in traditional finance and crypto prop-trading led to the founding of Hyperliquid after witnessing the failure of FTX. The collapse highlighted the need for a truly decentralized, user-focused exchange, prompting the team to evolve from a simple perp DEX into a purpose-built L1.

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