Core Concepts

HyperEVM Architecture

Hyperliquid is a performant L1 blockchain built with the vision of a fully on-chain open financial system. It combines a native high-performance trading engine (HyperCore) with a general-purpose EVM execution layer (HyperEVM), both secured by the HyperBFT consensus mechanism.

200k

Orders / second

HyperBFT

Consensus

Cancun

EVM hardfork

EIP-1559

Fee mechanism

The Hyperliquid Stack

Your Smart Contracts / dApps

EVM contracts deployed on HyperEVM — DeFi, NFTs, DEXs, etc.

HyperEVM

EVM-compatible execution layer. Cancun hardfork (no blob support). Chain ID: 999 (mainnet), 998 (testnet).

HyperCore

Native L1 order book handling perpetual futures and spot trading at 200k orders/sec.

HyperBFT Consensus

Custom high-performance Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus. Sub-second finality.

P2P Network

Optimized validator networking for global block propagation.

HyperCore vs HyperEVM

HyperCore

The native order book and trading engine. Handles perpetual futures, spot markets, and HIP-1/HIP-2 token mechanics. Operates through the api.hyperliquid.xyz/info and /exchange REST/WebSocket API.

•200,000 orders per second
•Sub-second finality
•USDC margin for perps
•Native HIP-1 spot tokens

HyperEVM

A general-purpose EVM execution environment. Deploy any Solidity contract. Interacts with HyperCore via precompiles and cross-chain transfers.

•Cancun EVM (no blob support)
•HYPE as native gas token (18 decimals)
•EIP-1559 fees — base + priority both burned
•Standard JSON-RPC HTTP (no official WS)

Dual Block Architecture

HyperEVM uses two distinct block types optimized for different use cases:

Small Blocks

Gas limit2,000,000

Block time~1 second

The default block type. Suitable for lightweight transactions but insufficient for most contract deployments.

Big Blocks

Gas limit30,000,000

Block time~1 minute

Required for contract deployments. Must be explicitly enabled via the block toggle tool or LayerZero CLI.

Network Configuration

Mainnet

Chain ID: 999

EVM RPChttps://rpc.hyperliquid.xyz/evm

Info APIhttps://api.hyperliquid.xyz/info

Testnet

Chain ID: 998

EVM RPChttps://rpc.hyperliquid-testnet.xyz/evm

Info APIhttps://api.hyperliquid-testnet.xyz/info

Transferring HYPE Between HyperCore ↔ HyperEVM

System Transfer Address

To move HYPE from HyperCore to HyperEVM, send tokens to the system address:

0x2222222222222222222222222222222222222222

This is a protocol-level address — transactions to this address trigger the native bridge mechanism.