From the interview table to the arena: Lighter founder once interviewed Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan

On January 13, according to Fortune magazine, Vladimir Novakovski, the founder of Lighter, was interviewed by Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan during his time at Harvard. The interview was for an internship application (at wealth management software company Addepar). Although this future competitor later created his own crypto trading platform, Jeff Yan does not remember this interview. The report mentions that Hyperliquid’s PR stated that Jeff “does not remember this interview.” Hyperliquid is rapidly rising to become one of the most influential new players in the crypto industry. Co-founded by Harvard graduate Jeff Yan, with a team of only 11 people and no venture capital funding, it has reached the top of the industry in just over two years. In October this year, during the market volatility triggered by Trump’s threat of a new round of tariffs, Hyperliquid underwent the largest on-chain “flash crash” stress test in history. Data shows that the total market liquidation on that day exceeded $19 billion, with Hyperliquid’s single-day liquidation surpassing $10 billion, far exceeding CEX and CEX, yet the system remained stable, serving as a strong endorsement of its technical strength. According to data from DefiLlama, Hyperliquid’s derivatives trading volume over the past month was approximately $140 billion, with annualized revenue exceeding $616 million. Its native token HYPE has a market cap close to $5.9 billion, ranking it among the top tier of crypto assets.