Hyperliquid announced on July 20 that its HIP-4 network upgrade will let anyone deploy prediction markets without needing special permission. The feature will first launch on a testnet before moving to the mainnet. Validators will vote on standardized outcome templates, and anyone meeting the HIP-4 requirements can use those templates to create markets.
How the permissionless system works
Templates are stored and enforced on-chain. They're designed for events with enough liquidity and user interest, and must be unambiguous. Deployers are responsible for defining and settling individual markets — multiple deployers can even launch identical markets. To prevent abuse, deployers must stake 500,000 HYPE tokens, locked for six months. Validators can slash that stake if a market is poorly defined or settled incorrectly. Leaving a market unsettled for more than a week triggers automatic slashing. Deployers must settle all their markets before they can unstake.
What's changing for validators and deployers
Canonical markets created by validators will still exist but are expected to become less common — ideally fewer than 10 per year. Initially, each deployer gets capacity for 100 outcomes (or 200 outcome tokens), with more allocation planned through a future auction mechanism. A future update will also let deployers set fee sharing of up to 50% on their markets. Under HIP-4, only AQAv2 quote tokens will be supported.
Prediction market volume hits new highs
The move comes as prediction platforms see explosive growth. A CoinGecko report showed notional volume across prediction platforms hit a record $50.7 billion in June, contributing to Q2 2026 volume of $113.8 billion — a 48.7% quarter-over-quarter increase.
HYPE token under pressure
At the time of writing, HYPE was trading near $60, down about 1% in 24 hours, nearly 10% over the last seven days, and about 16% over two weeks. The token is up about 34% year-on-year but more than 21% below its all-time high of $76.87 hit about a month ago.
All specifications are preliminary and subject to change based on feedback. The testnet launch will give the community a chance to test the system before it goes live on mainnet.
