In a year when most altcoins have gone nowhere, two keep climbing: Hyperliquid (HYPE 2.85%) and Zcash (ZEC 1.57%). Hyperliquid is a fee-generating decentralized exchange (DEX) for crypto-financial derivatives, whereas Zcash is a scarce, privacy-focused cryptocurrency modeled closely after Bitcoin.

Each represents a very different bet on where crypto is headed, so let’s compare what they offer.

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Hyperliquid’s productive token thesis

Hyperliquid is a blockchain built for trading perpetual futures, a type of financial derivative contract with no expiration date that lets investors gain leveraged exposure to assets such as cryptocurrencies, commodities, and tokenized stocks. As of late April, it’s the home to…