Bitget CEO Gracy Chen Says Hyperliquid Is Not A True DEX

High attention and emotional sentiment detected.

How the JELLY Incident Sparked Centralization Concerns

Hyperliquid is a high-performance perpetual futures exchange built on its own custom Layer-1 blockchain. It markets itself as a fully decentralized DEX offering CEX-like speed and non-custodial trading, with all positions backed by a shared on-chain liquidity vault known as the HyperLiquidity Provider (HLP). The protocol gained rapid traction in 2024–2025 for its capital-efficient design and deep liquidity in crypto perps.

On March 26, 2025, a coordinated market-manipulation attack unfolded on the newly listed JELLY memecoin perpetuals. Attackers built large short positions while manipulating the spot price, triggering liquidations that threatened the HLP vault with over $10 million in unrealized losses. In response, Hyperliquid’s validators intervened: they delisted the JELLY market and forcibly settled all open positions at a fixed low price ($0.0095), protecting the vault but sparking widespread accusations of centralized control. This incident is now the focal point of Gracy Chen’s criticism.

True DEX or Centralized Exchange?

Competitive Dynamics and the Decentralization Debate

Gracy Chen’s comments come as Hyperliquid has rapidly climbed the ranks to become one of the top perpetual futures platforms by volume, directly competing with centralized exchanges like Bitget. Industry observers see her statement as a mix of legitimate decentralization concerns and strategic positioning from a leading CEX that stands to lose market share to high-performance on-chain rivals.

Hyperliquid runs on its own purpose-built Layer-1 chain with a small, permissioned validator set that ultimately holds the power to intervene in extreme cases. While every trade executes on-chain, the JELLY delisting showed that emergency governance can still override normal operations, underscoring the ongoing debate over whether speed and capital efficiency in DeFi can coexist with uncompromising decentralization.

What to Watch Next

• Hyperliquid’s official response or any clarification on their decentralization model and validator intervention policies.
• Real-time on-chain metrics including TVL changes, perpetual trading volume, and signs of user outflows from the platform.
• Price movement and community sentiment around the $HYPE token in the coming days.
• How other perpetual DEX projects position themselves in the growing “true decentralization” debate sparked by this controversy.