Kyle's Hyperliquid Criticism Met with Mockery, Crypto Community Rallies Behind Latter

On Feb 9 (yesterday), former Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani criticized Hyperliquid, claiming its closed-source code "facilitates crime and terrorism." Most crypto industry participants collectively pushed back against the remarks. DBA co-founder Jon Charbonneau rebutted point-by-point: Hyperliquid’s founder was forced to leave his home region amid regulatory pressure; the "aiding crime and terrorism" claim was nothing more than hyperbole—any large financial system (including Solana and traditional banks) faces similar challenges; closed-source code is a product of current security and competitive dynamics, and many projects (including some backed by Multicoin) operate the same way. Andy, Rollup founder and Good Idea VC investor, emphasized Hyperliquid is forcing the market to reexamine token design: Over the next 1-2 years, projects that don’t proactively share revenue with users via buybacks or direct payouts will face a dim future. The key lies in current industry projects’ revenue, on-chain activity, real economic value, and transparent programmable cash flow. McKenna, managing partner at Arete.xyz, revealed traditional institutions are taking notice of Hyperliquid, praising it as a "cash cow + community-first" model: An 11-person team is on track to generate $800 million in revenue by 2025, 100% of which will go toward token buybacks—a rarity in both crypto and traditional equities. Cobie, echo xyz founder and crypto KOL, took a direct jab at Samani, calling his comments (made after a brief hiatus from the crypto community) "jestergooning."