How Compost Generates Yield

Where the money comes from. What we take. What you keep.

The simple version

You deposit HYPE. We put it to work. You earn yield.

Deposit
You send HYPE
Allocate
We deploy it
Earn
Yield accrues
Compound
Reinvested daily

Your receipt is cHYPE. It's worth more HYPE over time as yield compounds. When you want your HYPE back, you burn cHYPE and withdraw.

Yield sources

Two sources. One receipt token.

Source Allocation Yield
Validator staking 20-30% ~2.5% (baseline)
HIP-3 strategies 50-80% 0-15%+ (variable)

Validator staking is the floor. HIP-3 is the upside. Both compound into cHYPE.

HIP-3 mechanisms

How we access HIP-3 yield

HIP-3 markets require 500K HYPE to deploy. The builder earns ~50% of trading fees. But there are different ways to participate:

Mechanism What it is Growth Mode Standard Mode
Pooled wrapper Stake into a pool with rights to market revenue (e.g. Kinetiq kmHYPE) 0.5-2% 4-8%
LP vault Deposit into a market-making vault (e.g. Ventuals VLP) -5% to +15% -5% to +20%
Stake provider Provide stake to a deployer, split fees (e.g. Felix arrangements) 0.5-2% 5-10%
Collateral yield Use reward-bearing collateral (e.g. USDe on HyENA) 5-15% 5-15%
Direct deployment Stake 500K HYPE, operate market, keep 50% of fees 1-3% 8-15%+

Planned strategies: Pooled wrappers (e.g. Kinetiq kmHYPE) and LP vaults (e.g. Ventuals VLP). Collateral yield where it makes sense. Stake provider deals if terms are transparent.

With scale: Direct deployment when we have 500K+ HYPE.

LP vault warning: Market-making can lose money. VLP yield depends on trading profits, not fee share. We'd size this smaller.

The numbers

$32B+ traded. And it's accelerating.

HIP-3 markets have done $32B+ cumulative volume and growing weekly. But most runs in Growth Mode (90% fee reduction).

What $32B volume generates
Growth Mode (now):
$32B × 0.45 bps = $1.44M total fees
Builder share (50%) = $720K to stakers

Standard Mode:
$32B × 4.5 bps = $14.4M total fees
Builder share (50%) = $7.2M to stakers

10x difference. Same volume. Same markets. Only variable: fee mode.

As Hyperliquid scales
Now:       $32B → $7.2M/year to builders (if Standard)
3x:        $100B → $22.5M/year to builders
30x:       $1T → $225M/year to builders

Context: Nasdaq futures do $200B+ daily.

HIP-3 is early. Volume is ramping. When markets exit Growth Mode — and as Hyperliquid captures more of global trading — the fee pool scales with it.

Realistic numbers

What APR looks like

Worst case
2-4%
All Growth Mode. Validator yield only.
Base case
5-7%
Mixed modes. Some HIP-3 yield.
Good case
10-15%
Standard Mode. Full fee capture.
Who this is for

HYPE holders who want yield without selling. The 5-7% base case is respectable. The 10-15% upside is what makes it interesting. The 2-4% floor is the honest risk — you're betting on HIP-3 growth, not guaranteed returns.

Plain HYPE staking earns ~2.5%. If we can't beat that consistently, just stake directly.

Aligned incentives

We only make money when you make money

Compost exists to maximise yield. That's how you make money. That's how we make money. Our incentives are directly aligned.

Performance fee: 15% of returns above HYPE staking rate (~2.5%). If we don't beat vanilla staking, we earn almost nothing.

Management fee: 0.5%/year on the HIP-3 portion only.

No deposit fees. No withdrawal fees.

Example: 8% vault yield
Vault yield: 8%
HYPE staking rate: 2.5%
Excess return: 5.5%

Performance fee: 15% × 5.5% = 0.825%
Management fee: 0.5% × 50% = 0.25%

Your net yield: ~6.92%
Protocol revenue

What Compost earns

AUM Vault APR Protocol Revenue
$50M 4% ~$180K/year
$100M 6% ~$775K/year
$100M 8% ~$1.1M/year
$250M 8% ~$2.7M/year

At low AUM and low APR, we barely cover costs. At scale with decent yield, the protocol becomes self-sustaining.

Next steps

Validating the model

These are projected yields based on current HIP-3 mechanics and market conditions. The numbers will change as we refine deployment strategies and markets evolve.

What comes next:

• Deeper analysis on specific deployment allocations and projected yields
• Beta founders vault ($10M cap) to track real stats and APR transparently
• Wider rollout if the model proves out

The founders vault lets us validate assumptions with real capital before scaling. Early stakers see the same data we do — full transparency on what's working and what isn't.

If we can't beat vanilla HYPE staking (~2.5%), you should just stake directly.