Recorded an episode with @androolloyd and @andyhyfi about how they built @HypurrFi, their design choices, GTM, goals, KPIs and more. Building for a billion users is something I’ve heard too often and I’ve questioned if it’s really possible. HypurrFi is not building for a billion users, at least not now. They want finance-savvy users who are already on Hyperliquid. They want to start with the 1–5% who move most of the liquidity, solve their highest-value problems, then roll those solutions outward. If most of the capital is concentrated, start there. You get sharper feedback, fewer gimmicks, and products that can stand without subsidies. Hyperliquid is a good testbed for this because the users are traders first. If your product works here, it’s not because of marketing; it’s because it’s useful. @kinetiq_xyz is a great example of this. It has 10k users abd has $1 billion in TVL. That's $100k per user in deposits. What HypurrFi is actually doing 1. Leverage lending: Keep your core position (e.g., HYPE), borrow against it, and take directional trades without selling. 2. Synthetic dollar (USDXL): Not trying to replace USDC. It’s a debt rail — a way to move and structure liabilities so strategies can run. 3. Card that borrows at swipe: Spend against your position in real time. Then refinance that debt to a cheaper rate inside the app. That’s not “lending UX,” that’s debt servicing. 4. Routing for debt/liq events: Better paths for swaps and liquidations so less value is lost when things move fast. Why this matters 1. Velocity beats vanity metrics. Platforms don't make money when it's just sitting money. When the money moves, every hop is an opportunity to earn fees/revenue for somebody. TVL is nice; moving capital efficiently is better. Borrow, deploy, refinance, repeat — more activity per unit of collateral. 2. Don’t sell your conviction to pay bills. Spend without unwinding positions changes behaviour. It’s a small shift with big consequences. 3. Sequence > spray. Solve for the high-stakes users first; let the rest adopt when the tools are safer and simpler. If you think of it, this is what major financial appliations usually do. Build for those who move billions instead of building for billions. What I’ll watch next 1. Do users actually refinance at the edge (card to cheaper liability) and does average borrowing cost trend down? This is critical because you don't want to borrow at 20% even if it means that you get to keep your longs. 2. Does the synthetic dollar hold up in stress without heavy incentives? 3. Do better routes meaningfully reduce liquidation penalties and slippage? 4. Are distribution partners (wallets/interfaces) earning steady fees by plugging into liquidity, not just one-off spikes? Instead of just saying that this is what HypurrFi does, the episode is about going thorugh their decision making. How you choose your market, in what order, and why framing everything as debt to be serviced (not just loans to be issued) might be the right lens for a trading-first chain. Episode goes live next week.