The Road to Credible Pricing: February’s Two Tokens Poised for Main‑Stream Coverage
All commentary below is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice.
Each month the research team at Coin Metrics sifts through thousands of trading pairs to identify assets whose liquidity, data integrity, and exchange‑level transparency are approaching the thresholds required for inclusion in its canonical price indices. The selection process leans on two complementary blueprints: the Market Selection Framework (MSF), which evaluates the quality of individual spot markets, and the Trusted Volume Framework (TVF), which grades exchanges on the authenticity of the volume they report. When a token’s ecosystem clears both hurdles, its price feed can be treated as a reliable benchmark for analysts, institutional investors, and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols alike.
For February 2026, two projects have emerged from the evaluation pipeline as strong candidates for full market coverage: Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Plume Network (PLUME). Both are building infrastructure that blurs the line between on‑chain composability and the performance expectations of traditional finance. Below we unpack the technical underpinnings of each protocol, examine how their native tokens fit into the broader ecosystem, and assess what their potential inclusion in Coin Metrics’ data suite could mean for market participants.
1. Hyperliquid (HYPE): On‑Chain Perpetuals with Central‑Exchange Speed
1.1. Architecture at a Glance
Hyperliquid is a fully on‑chain derivatives hub that aims to deliver the sub‑second latency and order‑book depth typical of centralized exchanges (CEXs) while preserving the trust‑less guarantees of DeFi. Its backbone, HyperCore, orchestrates a network of validators that collectively maintain a single, globally consistent order book. The system relies on a bespoke HyperBFT consensus algorithm—a variant of Byzantine Fault Tolerance tailored for high‑throughput financial data. By batching order‑matching logic into a single shard and employing deterministic state transitions, HyperCore can settle a perpetual trade in under 300 ms on average, according to internal benchmarks released in Q4 2025.
Developers interact with the platform through the HyperEVM, an Ethereum‑compatible virtual machine augmented with native primitives for price‑feed ingestion and margin accounting. The most recent network upgrade, HIP‑3, unlocks a programmable market‑creation interface that lets anyone spin up a customized perpetual contract—complete with bespoke funding rates, leverage caps, and settlement mechanisms—without needing to fork the core protocol.
1.2. Token Economics
The HYPE token serves three primary functions:
- Validator Staking – Validators must lock HYPE to earn the right to propose blocks and to partake in the consensus layer. The staking contract implements a slashing module that penalizes malicious behavior, aligning validator incentives with network security.
- Liquidity Provision – Market creators deposit HYPE as collateral to open new perpetual markets. The deposited amount determines the maximum open interest that the market can sustain, acting as a built‑in risk buffer.
- Yield‑Generating Vaults – Users can allocate HYPE to autonomous market‑making vaults that employ algorithmic strategies (e.g., delta‑neutral hedging) to capture spread earnings. Early‑adopter vaults have reported annualized returns in the 12‑18 % range, albeit with exposure to liquidation risk during extreme volatility.
As of the end of January 2026, HYPE’s circulating supply sat at roughly 48 million tokens, with a market cap of $320 million. Daily on‑chain volume on Hyperliquid’s spot and perpetual pairs averaged $85 million, a 37 % increase from the previous month, suggesting that the platform is approaching the liquidity depth required by the MSF’s “minimum 30‑day average daily volume” criterion.
1.3. Market Implications
If Hyperliquid’s markets are admitted into Coin Metrics’ price feed, HYPE will become a reference asset for a growing number of institutional on‑chain trading desks that already rely on Coin Metrics indices to calibrate risk models. The inclusion would also provide a transparent benchmark for the growing ecosystem of synthetic assets that use Hyperliquid’s perpetuals as price oracles. Moreover, a reliable price feed could spur the launch of HYPE‑denominated futures on regulated venues, bridging the gap between DeFi and traditional derivatives markets.
2. Plume Network (PLUME): Scalable Tokenization of Real‑World Assets
2.1. Architectural Overview
Plume Network positions itself as a layer‑2 solution purpose‑built for tokenizing regulated assets—ranging from Treasury bills to private equity stakes—while preserving on‑chain auditability. The network’s core consists of three interacting layers:
- Arc Tokenization Engine – A Solidity‑compatible SDK that lets issuers encode compliance rules (KYC/AML checks, transfer restrictions, escrow conditions) directly into the token contract. The engine emits provenance metadata that is cryptographically anchored to the mainnet, allowing auditors to verify that each token adheres to its legal framework.
- Nexus Data Highway – An oracle aggregation layer that feeds vetted external price data (e.g., Bloomberg, Refinitiv) onto the Plume chain. By employing a multi‑signature verification scheme, Nexus mitigates the risk of single‑point oracle attacks while maintaining low latency—crucial for price‑sensitive securities.
- Sequencer & Ethereum Bridge – The sequencer batches transactions, assigns them a deterministic order, and posts a succinct roll‑up to Ethereum’s Beacon Chain for finality. Data availability is guaranteed by a set of “data providers” that store the roll‑up calldata off‑chain but make it retrievable through a Merkle proof system.
The network’s design deliberately isolates the high‑frequency, low‑value operations (e.g., balance updates, compliance checks) from the expensive, security‑critical settlement step on Ethereum, achieving a throughput of ~8,000 transactions per second with a median confirmation time of 2 seconds on the layer‑2.
2.2. Role of the PLUME Token
PLUME underpins the economic layer of the network:
- Gas Payments – All layer‑2 execution costs are paid in PLUME, which is burned at a rate proportional to the computational weight of the transaction. This creates a modest deflationary pressure that aligns token scarcity with network usage.
- Validator Staking & Data Integrity – Validators lock PLUME to secure the sequencer and to earn the right to submit roll‑up proofs to Ethereum. A reputation system ties slashing penalties to the accuracy of the data posted to the Nexus highway, incentivizing honest oracle behavior.
- Governance & Revenue Sharing – Token holders can vote on protocol upgrades, fee structures, and on‑chain compliance templates. A portion of the fees collected from asset issuers (typically 0.15 % of the tokenized asset’s value) is redistributed to stakers, creating a steady yield stream that currently sits at an APR of roughly 9 % based on the latest staking pool statistics.
At the close of January, PLUME’s circulating supply was 150 million, with a market capitalization near $540 million. The network has processed $1.2 billion of tokenized asset volume to date, and daily on‑chain trade volume surpassed $40 million in the last week, satisfying the TVF’s “minimum trusted volume” benchmark for inclusion.
2.3. Market Outlook
A formal price feed from Coin Metrics would give institutional custodians and regulated funds the confidence to treat PLUME‑backed tokens as “exchange‑listed” securities, potentially unlocking a new pipeline of capital toward tokenized real‑world assets. Moreover, the transparent, on‑chain audit trail that Plume provides could become a template for future regulatory‑compliant tokenization standards, accelerating the migration of legacy assets onto blockchain infrastructure.
3. Why Their Inclusion Matters
Both Hyperliquid and Plume have demonstrated that they can produce “clean” volume—trade activity that survives the TVF’s scrutiny for wash‑trading, spoofing, and exchange‑level manipulation. By meeting the MSF’s liquidity thresholds (minimum 30‑day average daily volume of $50 million and a bid‑ask spread below 0.5 % for the top three markets), the two tokens are on the cusp of becoming part of the Coin Metrics Composite Index (CMCI).
For market participants, this shift has three immediate ramifications:
- Benchmark Reliability – Institutional traders can reference a single, auditable price source rather than stitching together disparate exchange feeds, simplifying risk‑adjusted performance measurement.
- Product Development – Asset managers can design index‑tracked funds, structured products, or synthetic exposure contracts that rely on a vetted price oracle, lowering compliance overhead.
- Liquidity Feedback Loop – As more entities reference the Coin Metrics price, additional capital may flow into the underlying markets, tightening spreads and deepening order books—a virtuous cycle that reinforces the very criteria that earned the assets their inclusion.
4. Looking Ahead
If the February assessment confirms that Hyperliquid and Plume meet all quantitative and qualitative standards, we can expect their price feeds to be rolled out in the Q2 2026 data release. The timing aligns with a broader institutional push toward on‑chain derivatives and tokenized real‑world assets, sectors that have collectively attracted over $8 billion in new capital since the start of 2025.
Future research will track whether the addition of HYPE and PLUME to Coin Metrics’ suite translates into measurable improvements in market depth, reduced arbitrage gaps, and heightened participation from regulated entities. For now, both projects illustrate how sophisticated protocol engineering—paired with transparent token economics—can satisfy the rigorous data‑quality demands of mainstream finance.
Disclaimer: The material presented herein is solely for informational purposes. The author(s) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any data referenced. Opinions expressed reflect current analysis and are subject to change without notice. This commentary does not constitute an offer to buy, sell, or otherwise trade any digital asset, nor should it be interpreted as investment advice.
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