What is HyperEVM on Hyperliquid?

HyperEVM is the smart contract layer of Hyperliquid, a blockchain built mainly for trading. It runs apps written for the Ethereum Virtual Machine, so developers can use familiar Ethereum tools. Unlike a separate chain or rollup, it is part of the same network as Hyperliquid's exchange.

What is HyperEVM?

Hyperliquid has two main parts, covered in our guide to Hyperliquid. HyperCore runs the order books for perpetual futures and spot trading. HyperEVM is where general-purpose smart contracts live.

Hyperliquid's docs say HyperEVM inherits all of its security from HyperBFT, the network's consensus method. Key technical facts as of October 2026:

• Gas token: HYPE, with base fees burned as on Ethereum. Priority fees are also burned rather than paid to block producers.
• Chain ID: 999 on mainnet and 998 on testnet, which wallets use to identify the network.
• Compatibility: It follows Ethereum's Cancun upgrade, without blobs, and supports EIP-1559 fee pricing.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine guide explains what EVM compatibility means.

How do HyperEVM and HyperCore work together?

The main feature of HyperEVM is its direct link to HyperCore. Smart contracts can read live HyperCore data through built-in contracts called precompiles. That data includes perp positions, spot balances, vault equity, staking delegations and oracle prices. The docs say these values match HyperCore's state at the moment each EVM block is built.

Contracts can also act on HyperCore through a system contract called CoreWriter. It can place and cancel limit orders, move funds to vaults and send spot assets. Some of these actions are deliberately delayed onchain for a few seconds. HYPE moves from HyperCore to HyperEVM by sending it to a special system address.

HyperEVM produces two kinds of blocks. Small blocks arrive every second with a 3 million gas limit, giving fast confirmations. Big blocks arrive every minute with a 30 million gas limit, leaving room for heavy jobs such as deploying large contracts.

What is in the HyperEVM ecosystem?

Galaxy Research reported that HyperEVM went live on mainnet on February 18, 2025. By mid-2025 its ecosystem included lending protocols such as HyperLend and Felix, decentralized exchanges such as HyperSwap and KittenSwap, and Kinetiq, which issues a liquid staking token for HYPE. Other projects built stablecoins, options trading and tokenized versions of HLP, Hyperliquid's community vault. Apps on HyperEVM are run by independent teams, so each carries its own smart contract risk. Our guide to DEXs covers how many of these trading apps work.

To use these apps, an EVM wallet needs the HyperEVM network added with chain ID 999 and the public RPC address listed in Hyperliquid's docs, plus some HYPE for gas.