kHYPE vs stHYPE: Kinetiq and Valantis compared
The two largest HYPE liquid staking tokens side by side: how each one grows, how long an exit takes, who picks your validator, and what extra risk sits underneath.
Both Kinetiq's kHYPE and Valantis's stHYPE take a 10% fee on staking rewards. kHYPE is larger (about $882M against $193M, DefiLlama, November 4, 2026) and unstakes in about 8 to 9 days with no validator choice; stHYPE targets about 7 days, lets you pick a validator, and puts part of its stake behind a HIP-3 deployer module.
The short answer
kHYPE and stHYPE do the same basic job. You stake HYPE, Hyperliquid’s native token, and get a token back that you can hold, trade or use as collateral while the HYPE behind it keeps earning staking rewards. Both take the same 10% cut of rewards. The differences are in the plumbing:
- kHYPE (Kinetiq) is the larger of the two, keeps a fixed token balance whose value in HYPE rises, picks validators for you, and takes about 8 to 9 days to unstake.
- stHYPE (Valantis) comes in a rebasing version and a yield-bearing version (wstHYPE), lets you pick a validator, targets about 7 days, and puts part of its stake behind a HIP-3 deployer module, which adds risk kHYPE keeps in a separate token.
Both are issued on HyperEVM, Hyperliquid’s smart-contract chain, while the HYPE is staked on HyperCore, its trading engine and order-book chain.
kHYPE vs stHYPE at a glance
| Kinetiq kHYPE | Valantis stHYPE / wstHYPE | |
|---|---|---|
| TVL (DefiLlama, November 4, 2026) | about $882M | about $193M |
| Token model | Exchange rate: balance fixed, kHYPE-to-HYPE rate rises daily | stHYPE rebases (1 stHYPE = 1 HYPE); wstHYPE is the yield-bearing view, no wrapping needed |
| Protocol fee | 10% of rewards (70% KNTQ buybacks, 30% treasury) | 10% of rewards, already in the shown APY |
| Deposit and withdrawal fee | None listed for a queued unstake | None (gas only) |
| Minimum stake | 5 HYPE | None documented |
| Queued unstake | About 8 to 9 days, can’t be cancelled | Targets about 7 days; deployer-dependent part 30 to 183 days in very large unwinds |
| Faster exit | Instant unstake on the stake page (fee not published); or sell on a DEX | No-fee instant-redemption queue when it has liquidity; STEX swaps from 1 bp |
| Validator choice | No: StakeHub selects | Yes: Community Codes, 50% cap per validator |
| Extra exposure | None in kHYPE; HIP-3 deployer stake sits in separate kmHYPE | Part of the stake backs a USDe quote-asset deployer module |
| Audits | Pashov, Zenith, Code4rena, Spearbit | Three Sigma, Pashov, Guardian, Obsidian |
Kinetiq kHYPE
Who it’s for: HYPE holders who want the most widely held staking token and are happy to let the protocol choose validators.
Kinetiq’s kHYPE does not rebase. Your token count stays the same and the kHYPE-to-HYPE exchange rate rises; Kinetiq’s FAQ says the rate updates once a day. A scoring system called StakeHub spreads the HYPE across validators, and you cannot choose one. The direct-stake minimum is 5 HYPE.
Exits are the slow part. A queued unstake takes about 8 to 9 days: a 1-day delegation lockup plus Hyperliquid’s 7-day unstaking queue. It cannot be cancelled, and the kHYPE stops earning while it waits. The stake page also offers an instant unstake, but Kinetiq’s docs don’t publish its fee, so read the quote before you confirm.
Kinetiq keeps its HIP-3 exposure out of kHYPE. HIP-3 lets anyone run their own perp markets on Hyperliquid by staking 500,000 HYPE, and that stake can be slashed for misconduct such as bad oracles. Kinetiq puts that role in a separate token, kmHYPE (about $41.5M on DefiLlama, November 4, 2026), which you only carry if you choose it. The contracts are upgradeable, run behind a multisig and can be paused, and Kinetiq’s FAQ says kHYPE is not insured.
Full dossier: Kinetiq.
Valantis stHYPE and wstHYPE
Who it’s for: holders who want to choose their validator, want a roughly 7-day exit, and are comfortable with some deployer-module risk.
Valantis calls stHYPE “the first LST on Hyperliquid”. It has two interfaces over one balance. stHYPE on HyperEVM rebases, so 1 stHYPE always equals 1 HYPE and your balance grows. wstHYPE is the yield-bearing view: your balance stays fixed and each token is worth more than 1 HYPE over time. On HyperCore, stHYPE behaves like wstHYPE. Valantis’s own docs warn the two-token design “introduces a significant vulnerability for certain DeFi integrations”, so check which one an app accepts.
You can direct your stake: minting with a validator’s Community Code assigns your whole balance to that validator, and no validator may hold more than 50% of the delegation. Withdrawals target about 7 days. Valantis pays them from new deposits first, then a no-fee instant-redemption queue (roughly 10,000 to 50,000 HYPE), then fast-withdrawal accounts, and only in heavy stress from deployer stake, whose recall can take 30 to 183 days.
That deployer stake is the main structural difference. Part of stHYPE backs a USDe quote-asset module, so it carries deployer and quote-asset slashing risk on top of normal validator risk. Contracts are upgradeable behind a 48-hour timelock, and Valantis says it runs no public bug bounty and has no insolvency backstop.
Full dossier: Valantis.
Another option: Hyperbeat beHYPE
Hyperbeat’s beHYPE is a smaller HYPE liquid staking token built with ether.fi, at about $13.2M (DefiLlama, November 4, 2026). A normal withdrawal takes 7 days with no fee; an instant one costs 0.5% when liquidity allows. Hyperbeat publishes no fee on staking rewards. You can pick a validator from the beHYPE set or split across all of them, and a keeper can review abnormal unstake requests. beHYPE was audited by Nethermind, Certora and Pashov.
Where each token is used
All three are accepted as collateral on HyperEVM lenders. HyperLend’s Core Pools list kHYPE, wstHYPE and beHYPE. Felix has CDP branches and Morpho-based markets for kHYPE and wstHYPE, and Valantis tracks stHYPE balances held in HypurrFi, HyperLend and Felix’s Morpho markets for validator assignment. Valantis’s STEX AMM runs stHYPE/WHYPE and kHYPE/WHYPE pools. Kinetiq also offers a kHYPE yield vault, Kinetiq Earn (20% performance fee). See HyperLend vs Felix and Morpho on HyperEVM before borrowing against a staking token: a sharp discount between the token and HYPE can trigger a liquidation.
How we compared
We compared the tokens on documented, checkable criteria: the protocol fee on rewards, deposit and withdrawal fees, the minimum stake, the documented unstake time and fast-exit options, whether you can choose a validator, extra slashing exposure, published audits, and TVL from DefiLlama on November 4, 2026. Facts come from each protocol’s own docs, linked below. The table lists the two tokens by TVL, largest first. We never rank by who pays us, and we have no referral arrangement with either protocol.
Risks they share: upgradeable contracts controlled by multisigs, exits that take a week or more, and a token that can trade below its redemption value on a DEX when many holders sell at once. Hyperliquid has no validator slashing today; Kinetiq notes it could come later.
Questions people ask
Which is bigger, kHYPE or stHYPE?
kHYPE. DefiLlama showed about $882M in Kinetiq kHYPE and about $193M in Valantis stHYPE on November 4, 2026.
Do kHYPE and stHYPE charge the same fee?
Yes, both take 10% of staking rewards. Kinetiq sends 70% of its cut to KNTQ buybacks and 30% to its treasury; Valantis says its 10% is already reflected in the APY its app shows and charges no deposit or withdrawal fee.
Which unstakes faster, kHYPE or stHYPE?
stHYPE targets about 7 days and can be faster when new deposits cover queued withdrawals. A queued kHYPE unstake takes about 8 to 9 days (a 1-day delegation lockup plus Hyperliquid's 7-day queue) and cannot be cancelled. In a very large stHYPE unwind, the part that depends on deployer stake can take 30 to 183 days.
Is stHYPE a rebasing token?
On HyperEVM, yes: 1 stHYPE always equals 1 HYPE and your balance grows. wstHYPE is the yield-bearing view of the same balance, worth more than 1 HYPE over time. kHYPE never rebases; its exchange rate to HYPE rises, updated daily.
Can I choose my validator?
With stHYPE, yes: minting with a validator's Community Code assigns your whole balance to that validator, and no validator may hold more than 50% of stHYPE's delegation. With kHYPE, no: Kinetiq's StakeHub scores and selects validators for you.
What is beHYPE?
beHYPE is Hyperbeat's HYPE liquid staking token, built with ether.fi. A normal withdrawal takes 7 days with no fee, or 0.5% for an instant one when liquidity allows. DefiLlama showed about $13.2M in it on November 4, 2026.