According to Michael van de Poppe, Hyperliquid's growth and renewed interest in AI-focused cryptocurrencies suggest a resurgence of risk appetite in altcoins.
By AI Boost|Edited by Jennifer Sanasie May 23, 2026, 2:19 p.m. 2 min readMake preferred onLatest developments: Hyperliquid is outperforming much of the crypto sector as traders shift back to higher-risk investments.
- The HYPE token from Hyperliquid reached a record high following the launch of two HYPE ETFs in the U.S.
- Van de Poppe noted that European traders are increasingly turning to Hyperliquid, as access to perpetual futures trading is limited on several regulated platforms in Europe.
- He believes that Hyperliquid's expansion into tokenized stocks, commodities, and pre-IPO assets is propelling broader trends in tokenization throughout the crypto landscape.
- Van de Poppe predicts that HYPE could potentially soar to $100 or higher if the appetite for cryptocurrencies continues to grow.
- He discussed these insights with Jennifer Sanasie on CoinDesk's Markets Outlook.
What this means: Van de Poppe considers Hyperliquid a solid short-term investment, but regards Solana as a more compelling long-term choice.
- He observed that liquidity in the cryptocurrency market is becoming concentrated around a select number of protocols that are seeing robust user growth and revenue.
- While Hyperliquid currently benefits from this liquidity concentration, Van de Poppe cautioned that competitors will eventually emerge, challenging its current market position.
- He characterized Solana as successfully evolving from a “degen” ecosystem to a more institutional-oriented blockchain environment.
- Van de Poppe asserted that Solana's long-term infrastructure role makes it a more appealing option than Hyperliquid over a multi-year timeframe.
The AI trade: According to van de Poppe, crypto projects linked to AI are significantly undervalued compared to traditional AI firms.
- He highlighted NEAR and Bittensor as two of the most promising infrastructure projects associated with AI adoption in the crypto space.
- Van de Poppe contended that valuations for both private and public AI firms are becoming inflated, while crypto AI tokens have decreased sharply despite ongoing growth in the ecosystem.
- He mentioned that NEAR's expected revenue could grow from approximately $10 million in 2025 to as high as $100 million this year, justifying a much higher valuation.
- Van de Poppe indicated that Bittensor's ecosystem growth and subnet configuration could support valuations ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 if adoption continues to rise.
The privacy debate: Privacy remains a crucial long-term issue in crypto, although fully anonymous systems face significant regulatory challenges.
- Van de Poppe remarked that both institutional and retail users desire greater transactional privacy on blockchains.
- However, he argued that governments are unlikely to endorse fully anonymous privacy coins in the long run due to the demand for transaction visibility from regulators.
- He pointed out that European funds are already encountering restrictions when dealing with certain privacy-focused assets.
- Van de Poppe suggested that zero-knowledge proof systems and permissioned privacy models could offer more sustainable solutions for institutional adoption.
Macro outlook: Van de Poppe indicated that bond yields and central bank policies are the primary near-term macro factors influencing crypto.
- He highlighted Japanese bond yields as a significant market indicator that could impact overall risk appetite.
- Declining yields might bolster equity and crypto markets, while persistent inflation could pose challenges.
- Van de Poppe does not anticipate any aggressive rate cuts or renewed monetary easing from the Federal Reserve in the near future.
- He warned that further rate hikes could put pressure on crypto and other risk assets.
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