AI and DeFi Buzz Fuels Gains in Hyperliquid, Uniswap, Worldcoin Despite Market Dip

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market lost momentum after an early-week rebound, but select tokens continued to climb.

BTC hovered around $65,800 on Tuesday as overall market activity cooled, while Hyperliquid’s HYPE, Uniswap’s UNI, and Worldcoin’s WLD posted strong gains, emerging as standout performers.

HYPE jumped as much as 13% to a new all-time high above $76 before trimming gains. The token is now up nearly 200% in 2026, ranking among the top-performing large-cap assets this year.

Hyperliquid operates an onchain exchange focused on perpetual futures trading via an order book model. The platform is increasingly viewed as a credible alternative to centralized exchanges, with longer-term plans to expand into tokenized equities, commodities, and other real-world assets.

Investor interest has also been fueled by its growing ties with Coinbase, particularly after integrating Circle’s USDC as its main trading pair. Under this setup, a portion of the yield generated from U.S. Treasury reserves backing USDC is directed toward buying HYPE.

Worldcoin’s WLD gained 12%, extending its monthly rally to roughly 180%.

Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the project is widely seen as a proxy bet on artificial intelligence within crypto markets. Its recent strength has been supported by renewed enthusiasm for AI investments, following the strong debut of SpaceX — which also owns AI firm xAI — and increasing speculation around a potential OpenAI IPO.

Uniswap’s UNI climbed another 18% after Standard Chartered initiated coverage with a bullish long-term outlook.

Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital asset research, said decentralized finance (DeFi) could become a major growth driver as traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds migrate onchain.

The bank estimates that assets actively deployed in DeFi could expand 37-fold by the end of the decade, positioning Uniswap — the largest decentralized exchange — as a key beneficiary.

Standard Chartered set a $100 price target for UNI by 2030, suggesting roughly 30x upside from current levels.