Episode summary
Lighter vs. Hyperliquid: Where a Top Trader Sees More Upside
Bankless
· · Hosts: David Hoffman · Guests: KoolKrypto
Summary
KoolKrypto argues that the fastest way to survive and rise on Hyperliquid is not to swing for giant leverage, but to avoid blowups and stay alive for the obvious dislocations that crypto keeps producing. He says his own P&L comes from a mix of small perps wins, occasional spot home runs, and hedged positioning rather than one giant hero trade, and he treats leaderboards as a useful but highly contextual signal rather than something to blindly copy trade.
The conversation then moves into how he thinks about crypto valuation. He frames his edge as finding underappreciated revenue-generating tokens and understanding why different assets deserve different multiples, especially when buybacks make token value accrue more directly to holders. He argues that the market is increasingly rewarding revenue, but also that store-of-value assets like Bitcoin and Zcash can benefit if regulation tightens or capital rotates toward privacy and durability.
Most of the debate centers on Zcash versus Bitcoin, and Hyperliquid versus Lighter. He sees Zcash as a crowded but still attractive trade with strong privacy and quantum narratives, though vulnerable to crowding and long drawdowns. He also says Lighter may have a cleaner near-term regulatory path, while Hyperliquid still has the stronger liquidity moat and longer-term franchise.
Key takeaways
- KoolKrypto says top crypto traders mostly survive by avoiding blowups, often using 1x or less leverage rather than aggressive risk-taking.
- He argues that perps P&L comes more from hedging and singles, while spot holdings are where larger home-run gains tend to come from.
- He sees revenue-backed tokens as more understandable when buybacks create a floor, but says store-of-value assets can still win if regulation or macro shifts favor them.
- He thinks Zcash has a strong privacy-and-quantum narrative but is crowded, reflexive, and best expressed through options because of its potential for huge drawdowns and breakouts.
- He says Lighter may outperform Hyperliquid over the next 3 to 6 months on regulatory optics, while Hyperliquid remains the stronger long-term liquidity moat.
- He believes options adoption in crypto is earlier than perps adoption and still has far more room to grow.
Notable quotes
“like all of crypto is just not blowing up. Like like it's it's so much more about risk mitigation”
“there's not really any one big, you know, huge per trade. Like I know that there's a couple of guys on there who have like massive like Near and Ze”
“the big opportunities in crypto are so readily apparent in my opinion”
“like if your token is not generating very attractive like PE ratios and and is is trading at like a relatively favorable amount of of revenue compared to float”
Topics
- perps risk management
- hyperliquid vs lighter
- zcash bull and bear case
- crypto options vs perps
- macro inflection point
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Hyperliquid
- Lighter
- Zcash
Watch the episode
Watch “Lighter vs. Hyperliquid: Where a Top Trader Sees More Upside” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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