Hyperliquid declined a $1 billion valuation investment deal from a certain VC firm in early 2024.

Odaiy Cryptocurrency World News: Hyperliquid founder Jeff Yan and members of his team recently accepted an exclusive feature interview with Colossos Magazine.

In the interview, Jeff revealed that in January 2024, he had been in talks with potential investors, and that the condition he put forward was: “I would only consider investment terms with a valuation of $1 billion.”

When an investor accepted that valuation, Jeff spent a weekend seriously thinking it through, but ultimately decided to refuse.

Including Hyperliquid’s other co-founder, iliensinc (responsible for managing funds), and other team members, everyone at the time found it difficult to accept. Previously, iliensinc had already been engaged in two weeks of fundraising matchmaking and communications with the investors.

When Jeff called that fund, they also couldn’t believe it, thinking that he had only accepted terms from another institution.

Jeff responded with an analogy: “Hyperliquid is not a company, but a protocol. ‘Neutrality’ has been the core idea from the very beginning. If Bitcoin had gone through venture capital financing back then, it wouldn’t be Bitcoin today—and its entire value proposition would have been destroyed.”

For more details, see “Jeff Yan’s ‘Hyper Life’”.