Staking

HYPE Token staking secures Hyperliquid via delegated proof of stake. All staking occurs through HyperCore.

Mechanics

  • Stake is delegated to validators; “delegate” and “stake” are used interchangeably
  • Can delegate to multiple validators simultaneously
  • Transfers between spot and staking accounts work like USDC perps ↔ spot transfers

Timelines

Action Duration
Delegation lockup 1 day
Undelegation Instant (after lockup)
Staking → spot withdrawal 7-day unstaking queue
Max pending withdrawals 5

Validator Requirements

  • Self-delegation minimum: 10,000 HYPE (locked 1 year)
  • Active set: Top 24 validators by total stake
  • Below 10,000 HYPE self-delegation → undelegate-only mode
  • Commission increase cap: ≤1% (prevents bait-and-switch)

Rewards

  • Formula: Reward rate inversely proportional to sqrt(total HYPE staked) (Ethereum’s model)
  • At 400M staked: ~2.37% annual yield
  • Source: Future emissions reserve
  • Compounding: Rewards auto-redelegated to the staked validator
  • Schedule: Accrual every minute, distribution daily
  • Calculation basis: Minimum balance during each staking epoch

Validator Discipline

  • Validators can vote to jail peers with poor latency/responsiveness
  • Quorum of jail votes → validator loses consensus participation and rewards
  • Jailed validators can unjail after fixing issues (subject to rate limits)
  • Jailing ≠ slashing: Slashing addresses provably malicious conduct (e.g., double-signing)

Epochs

  • 100,000 rounds per epoch (~90 minutes on mainnet)
  • Validator sets and stakes are static within an epoch
  • Transitions happen at epoch boundaries

See also: Validators, HYPE Token, HyperBFT