On June 17, Eyenovia, a digital eye care technology company (stock code: EYEN), announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement to conduct a $50 million PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) offering with institutional accredited investors. This funding will be used to establish its first cryptocurrency treasury reserve plan, targeting the Hyperliquid native token HYPE. The $50 million investment amount far exceeds the company's $20 million market capitalization. Since this announcement, EYEN's stock price on the US stock market has continued to surge. As of the close of trading yesterday, EYEN's market capitalization had quadrupled compared to before the news, soaring to $80 million.

To support this strategic transformation, the company has simultaneously appointed Hyunsu Jung as the new Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and board member. Additionally, on July 3, the company will officially rename itself Hyperion DeFi, and its stock code will be updated to HYPD.

What exactly is Eyenovia, the first publicly traded company to implement a "micro-strategy" plan using the HYPE token? Who is the mastermind behind this, Hyunsu Jung? Today, more and more companies are undergoing a "rebirth" through Crypto's tokens. Is HYPE a better choice?

Faced with these questions, BlockBeats interviewed MAX, a core member of the Hyperliquid community, and Hyunsu Jung, the newly appointed Chief Investment Officer of Eyenovia.

From a Failing Ophthalmology Company to the Public Company Holding the "Most" HYPE

The Hyperliquid mainnet has recently shown strong performance, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) skyrocketing to the top ten of blockchain projects. The native token, HYPE, has jumped to the 11th position in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings. User engagement is steadily increasing, with daily platform transaction fees stabilizing in the $2-3 million range, and annualized revenue approaching $1 billion. In stark contrast, Eyenovia, a company that had no previous ties to blockchain, was deteriorating before its transformation. The company, which went public at $800 per share on the NASDAQ in February 2018, saw its stock price plummet afterwards, falling below $1 in April 2025, facing a delisting crisis.

Eyenovia's original main business was micro-dose eye care devices, with its flagship product Optejet targeting post-operative ophthalmology and pediatric myopia fields. However, in recent years, Eyenovia's revenue has been dismal, with only $56,000 in total revenue for 2024 and a net loss of $50 million, putting it at risk of delisting. In the face of bleak prospects for its traditional business, the company chose to go all-in on crypto assets, aiming to find a "new lifeline" through the high-growth ecosystem of Hyperliquid.

According to an official announcement on June 17, Eyenovia will issue 15.4 million shares of convertible preferred stock and 30.8 million common stock warrants with an exercise price of $3.25. If all warrants are exercised, the company can raise up to $150 million. On Monday, June 23, Eyenovia announced the purchase of 1,040,584.5 HYPE tokens at an average price of around $34 per token, with the tokens currently held in custody at Anchorage.

It was in this dire situation that Eyenovia turned its focus to the rapidly growing decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, viewing the HYPE reserve as a final "life-saving" straw. This move indeed instilled strong confidence in the market, as Eyenovia's stock price skyrocketed 134% in a single day, instantly reversing its continued decline. Through this cryptocurrency "lifeline," a struggling small-scale ophthalmology company found renewed hope.

In addition to the initial $50 million allocation, Eyenovia also designed warrants to raise more funds, with Hyunsu telling BlockBeats that "Eyenovia plans to become the publicly traded company with the largest HYPE holdings globally."

Airdrop in the Crypto Executive Circle, Led by a DeFi Veteran Trader

Prior to announcing its foray into the crypto space, Eyenovia had no interaction with the blockchain industry. Therefore, when the news of appointing Hyunsu Jung as Chief Investment Officer through an airdrop of 500,000 common shares broke, it caused quite a stir in the industry. Through discussions, we learned that Hyunsu Jung's career began at EY-Parthenon as a consultant, where he was involved in major corporate M&A deals, such as the split of United Technologies Corporation. However, in 2021, faced with the bureaucratic and slow-paced work environment of traditional institutions, Hyunsu felt disillusioned and frustrated with his career growth, leading him to switch to the emerging crypto industry in search of a breakthrough. According to him, this choice stemmed from dissatisfaction with the stagnant nature of traditional companies and a belief in the future potential of blockchain.

Hyunsu's first official entry into the blockchain industry was at DARMA Capital, a digital asset investment advisory firm founded by Andrew Keys, co-founder of ConsenSys, in 2018. During his time at DARMA, he spearheaded the development of the Filecoin Asset Utilization Product, aimed at reducing the capital barriers for distributed storage providers to acquire FIL tokens. The derivative product (FAUS) obtained approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), providing the initial FIL lending scenario and gradually expanding to over 50 global data center operation teams, deploying assets totaling over $300 million. Hyunsu pointed out, "If on-chain assets have real utility, the revenue opportunities generated will far surpass what traditional finance can offer."

Hyunsu's intersection with the Hyperliquid project was not sudden, thanks to his close relationship with the ecosystem's core member, Max. The two have known each other since their study abroad days, as Max recalled on X: "It's been almost ten years since Hyunsu and I were broke exchange students in Edinburgh; it's been five years since we became roommates in San Juan and entered the cryptocurrency world together." Hyunsu told BlockBeats that Max introduced him to the community during the 2023 Hyperliquid public testnet period, and Hyunsu has been actively involved in Hyperliquid ever since.

What Else Will Eyenovia Do Besides Staking HYPE?

Shortly after Eyenovia announced its acquisition of HYPE, the Canadian publicly traded company Tony G Co-Investment attempted a similar move. On June 12, the company bought 10,000 HYPE tokens, causing a price surge of over 800% in less than an hour, leveraging a mere $430,000 investment to drive a staggering $57 million market cap increase.

According to official disclosures, Eyenovia will use the majority of the funds raised in this round to purchase over a million HYPE tokens. In Hyperliquid's HIP-3 protocol mechanism, deploying tokens in the market requires staking at least 1 million HYPE tokens, allowing node owners to receive a share of the market transaction fees. Eyenovia's purchase this time met this requirement, significantly enhancing the composite potential of "holding + node + income." Incorporating cryptocurrency assets into the balance sheet of a publicly traded company is not uncommon today, and Eyenovia is undoubtedly one of the latest and most aggressive practitioners.

This transaction is seen by the community as the beginning of a Hyperliquid version of the "MicroStrategy model." Community member Telaga has further proposed a long-term concept of operating Strategy with HYPE, envisioning a core HYPE-based ecosystem encompassing CDT bond tokens, NFT options, LP liquidity provision, liquidity treasury, perpetual contracts, and DeFi modules for structured fund allocation and compounding growth.

Specifically, the treasury accepts external user funds, primarily in the form of USD stablecoins. Once the funds are deposited, users receive two types of on-chain instruments: convertible bond tokens (CDT) representing principal equity and option-type NFTs symbolizing future profit choices or buyback rights. This design enables user assets to have liquidity while being tied to long-term value growth expectations through contract structures.

Hyunsu told BlockBeats that the company not only includes HYPE on its balance sheet, but also plans to establish a long-term compounding model through staking, on-chain yield agreements, referral commissions, node operation, and other forms.

On June 25, Eyenovia had already begun to fulfill its on-chain participation commitment, announcing a partnership with Hyperliquid's native staking protocol Kinetiq to launch a joint validator node, Kinetiq x Hyperion. The node uses Eyenovia's recently acquired 1 million HYPE tokens to provide validation services to the Hyperliquid network, enhancing network security and enabling the company to directly participate in on-chain yield generation. The node, supported by institutional-grade node service provider Pier Two, earns native rewards through staking HYPE.

At the same time, Hyunsu provided BlockBeats with two potential scenarios that Eyenovia may implement in the future:

1. Signing a bilateral agreement with a trading institution to stake HYPE and link the wallet to the institution's main wallet. The counterparty can enjoy fee discounts without taking on HYPE exposure or hedging themselves.

2. The Hyperliquid interface can transfer fee discounts to new users through a referral code. If an interface lacks top-tier fee levels, it can improve its competitiveness through a "staking lease agreement."

Hyunsu told BlockBeats that although Eyenovia currently does not intend to develop or operate any on-chain products, it plans to be an active investor and responsible participant in the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Eyenovia will consider participating in DeFi applications on HyperEVM based on internal approval criteria, with a focus on LST liquidity and lending market supply.

Why HYPE?

In the U.S. stock market, "buying coins" is becoming a new way for some companies to tell their valuation stories. From the pioneer MicroStrategy to later entrants SharpLink and GameStop, many companies have attempted to achieve stock price surges and market cap management through the purchase of mainstream crypto assets such as BTC and ETH.

Among them, since boldly betting on Bitcoin in 2020, MicroStrategy's stock price has soared from its initial tens of dollars to $370 in 2025, with a market cap exceeding $100 billion, making it a textbook example of the "coin-stock fusion" strategy. Meanwhile, a little-known small betting company, SharpLink Gaming (SBET), announced a $425 million private placement funding round to purchase 163,000 Ether (ETH) in May 2025, leading to a 500% price surge on the day of the announcement. Against the backdrop of these examples, Eyenovia's departure from traditional BTC and ETH to choose the still-emerging HYPE naturally raises the question: Why specifically HYPE?

Hyunsu told BlockBeats, "HYPE has a unique deflationary property among mainstream crypto assets. With a lack of structural net selling pressure, it is more suitable as a collateral asset and has also built a more robust foundation for DeFi. Additionally, the scarcity of HYPE spot contributes to our advantage." The Hyperliquid blockchain incorporates a transaction fee buyback and burn mechanism, where the network's accumulated fees are automatically used to buy back and "reclaim" circulating HYPE in the market.

As of June 2025, over 25 million HYPE tokens have been redeemed and burned by the protocol, propelling HYPE to the 11th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization globally. Its supply is shrinking, making it more suitable as a collateral asset compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, thereby providing a more stable value foundation for DeFi applications. In contrast, while Bitcoin is widely recognized by institutions, its role is more akin to a digital commodity; Ethereum has a certain deflationary tendency (such as fee burning under the EIP-1559 mechanism) but still faces continuous ecosystem inflation and selling pressure. HYPE, on the other hand, continuously reinforces its value through the rapid growth of on-chain transactions, forming intrinsic value support.

Moreover, Hyunsu emphasized that "HYPE has a strong growth narrative behind it." As a high-performance on-chain trading platform, Hyperliquid has seen a sustained increase in daily transaction volume and user metrics, bringing growth potential for HYPE tied to its business fundamentals. In comparison, Bitcoin, after many years of development, has relatively matured, with limited "narrative space" and almost commodified exposure.

Relatively, HYPE has not yet been widely held by large institutions or retail investors, offering a new and high-growth exposure opportunity for traditional investors. "HYPE has two main advantages as a treasury asset: first, HYPE is a 'productive asset' that provides practical benefits such as reduced transaction fees after staking; second, HYPE is not widely held yet, allowing us to offer a valuable unique exposure to the market," explained Hyunsu. These aspects have set Eyenovia apart from many companies attempting "crypto treasury," providing a sustainable on-chain revenue path (such as staking rewards, node rewards, etc.) rather than passively waiting for token appreciation.

From a broader market demand perspective, Hyunsu believes that "HYPE, as a new type of collateral asset, can also be understood and accepted by traditional financial practitioners." In the current macro environment, asset selection is becoming increasingly critical, and HYPE's highlights in user growth and tokenomics give it a natural advantage, potentially meeting part of institutional investors' demand for high-growth on-chain assets.

At the same time, the rise of decentralized perpetual contract markets is also attracting the attention of traditional finance. "Liquidity attracts liquidity," Hyunsu pointed out, "including traditional institutions such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, PayPal, and Robinhood, who have recently been laying out their strategies in the blockchain field, indicating that on-chain markets are becoming a new arena, and the on-chain perpetual trading market for non-crypto assets will unleash a larger demand pool." This means that platforms like Hyperliquid, which provide on-chain high-frequency trading, still have enormous room for growth in the future, and holding HYPE is equivalent to owning a stake in this emerging "financial engine."

Lifebuoy or Liquidity Exit?

Undeniably, HYPE has injected life-saving energy into Eyenovia. However, can betting on HYPE really establish a sustainable, dividend-paying, and governance-capable on-chain financial model? Can the compounding logic envisioned by Eyenovia support the financial paradigm shift of future U.S. public companies? Or will it ultimately degenerate into Hyperliquid's early whale cash-out "liquidity exit" channel? These questions have sparked heated discussions in the community.

In response, Hyunsu told BlockBeats, "Any conscious on-chain participation is an important part of enhancing the Hyperliquid ecosystem's awareness and usage." In other words, even though Eyenovia's current strategy is mainly to hold and stake HYPE rather than develop killer applications itself, as long as the company genuinely participates deeply in the ecosystem, its actions will expand Hyperliquid's influence and user base. Therefore, Eyenovia is not concerned about the external criticism of "just hoarding coins without building."

Facing the skepticism of "if HYPE is mainly obtained OTC and not used for ecosystem development, it may become an exit channel for early whales," Hyunsu stated that Eyenovia has a fiduciary duty to shareholders and must execute its HYPE treasury strategy with the highest efficiency. If there are future opportunities for the company to participate in bulk OTC purchases of discounted HYPE, the company will make a careful decision based on the circumstances.

However, at present, he does not believe that Eyenovia's buying provides an early whale exit channel because, apart from the core contributors to Hyperliquid unlocking starting in November 2025, the early airdrop tokens of HYPE have already been unlocked for circulation. But according to MAX, currently, no team members are ready to sell their locked tokens, and there is no significant token supply waiting to be unlocked for a massive sell-off in the market.

The 100+ million HYPE tokens acquired by Eyenovia in this purchase were all circulating chips absorbed from the secondary market, which actually to some extent reduced market selling pressure. Furthermore, through partnerships with compliant custody and trading platforms such as Anchorage, the company ensured the transparency and legality of the coin purchase process, aiming to protect the interests of small and medium shareholders as much as possible.

Of course, any high-volatility asset strategy cannot avoid risk management issues. If the future HYPE price experiences a sharp decline, could it deal a fatal blow to Eyenovia's operations and finances? In response to this, Hyunsu has provided a series of contingency plans. He stated that the company has developed hedging strategies for exposure when necessary. When deploying the HYPE treasury, Eyenovia is more focused on fixed income generated from collateral or income paths with low correlation to market trends, thereby reducing reliance on token price fluctuations.

While Hyunsu did not disclose more specific details, based on the disclosure approach, the team may utilize synthetic yield realization (e.g., using derivatives to lock in some unrealized profits) and protective options tools to hedge downside risk. Once the HYPE market sentiment deteriorates sharply, these hedging strategies will act as shock absorbers to protect the stability of the company's balance sheet and shareholder value.

CEX Slaying Spell?

Looking ahead, whether Eyenovia's "on-chain micro-strategy" experiment can succeed remains to be tested by time.

On one hand, the sustainability of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, and whether the HYPE token model can prove its long-term value in a new cycle, are key factors determining the success or failure of Eyenovia's financial transformation; on the other hand, the dynamics of mainstream institutions such as Coinbase and Robinhood entering the US compliant perpetual market have added external competitive pressure to Hyperliquid.

It can be said that Eyenovia is at the forefront of the convergence of the traditional financial and crypto worlds, and each step of its exploration is full of unknowns.

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