What Is HyperEVM? HyperCore vs HyperEVM, Wallet Setup and Transfers

What is HyperEVM?

The Hyperliquid blockchain has two parts. HyperCore is the exchange you trade on: perpetual and spot order books, margin, liquidations, HYPE staking and vaults, all built into the chain itself. HyperEVM is an Ethereum Virtual Machine added to the same chain, so developers can deploy ordinary Solidity contracts with ordinary EVM tools. Hyperliquid's docs are explicit that it "is not a separate chain, but rather, secured by the same HyperBFT consensus as HyperCore".

That shared state is the point of the design. A HyperEVM contract can read HyperCore data such as oracle prices, positions and balances through read precompiles (addresses from 0x…0800), and send actions such as orders, transfers or staking to HyperCore through the CoreWriter system contract at 0x3333…3333 (about 47,000 gas for a basic call). The docs' example is a lending protocol that reads collateral prices straight from the order books and liquidates borrowers by trading on them. A token can also live on both sides: its HyperCore spot asset is linked to an ERC-20 contract, so the same token trades on the order book and works in HyperEVM apps.

The docs still call HyperEVM "in the alpha stage", with throughput being raised gradually; gas can spike when demand outruns the deliberately small blocks.

HyperCore vs HyperEVM: the differences

From the Hyperliquid docs (HyperEVM, dual-block architecture, onboarding FAQ), read October 22, 2026.

One address, two balances is the part that trips people up. If you log in with a wallet, its 0x address is your account on both sides, but HyperCore balances only appear in the Hyperliquid app and HyperEVM balances only appear in a wallet or HyperEVM explorer. A trader who never touches HyperEVM can ignore it completely; perps, spot and deposits all happen on HyperCore. Which wallets handle both sides well: best wallet for Hyperliquid.

Related:Hyperliquid review 2026

How to add HyperEVM to MetaMask or Rabby

Hyperliquid's onboarding page gives these values for "Add Custom Network" (read October 22, 2026; the official RPC answered chain ID 0x3e7 = 999 the same morning):

1. MetaMask (or any EVM wallet): open the network menu, add a custom network (the docs call the button "Add Custom Network"), paste the values above and save. The docs also link Chainlist's page for chain 999 as a one-click alternative; check that the RPC it adds is the one above.
2. Rabby: the support FAQ says Rabby "supports the HyperEVM as an integrated network", so there is no custom network to type, and it recommends Rabby when another wallet will not accept the network.
3. Show a token: on a spot pair's Trade page, the wallet icon next to Contract adds that token to your wallet ("Add this token to the HyperEVM network in your wallet extension"). You can also paste the contract address from a HyperEVM explorer.

Two known errors. "Invalid transaction envelope type: specified type 0x2 but included a gasPrice…" is, per the support FAQ, a known MetaMask issue; switch to Rabby. A warning that you have "insufficient ETH" for gas means the network was added wrongly: HyperEVM gas is HYPE, never ETH. For a multisig, the docs list Safe, Den and Palmera as Safe instances on HyperEVM.

How to move HYPE and USDC between HyperCore and HyperEVM

1. Open the EVM Transfer window: Transfer to/from EVM in the Balances table (Trade or Portfolio page) or EVM ⇄ Core at the top of the Portfolio page. The app describes it as "Transfer assets between your HyperEVM and HyperCore Spot balances." In our reading of the app it is active on the master account, not on sub-accounts.
2. Pick the direction with the Spot ⇄ EVM switch and choose the token. Only spot balances move: in a Manual (standard) account, move USDC from Perps to Spot first; in the default Unified account it is one balance already.
3. Check the fee line and confirm. Going to the EVM, the window shows "A fee of ~… HYPE will be charged to receive [token] on the EVM". The docs price it at 200,000 gas at the next block's base fee, paid in HYPE from your HyperCore spot balance: at the 0.1 gwei base fee we read on October 22, 2026, about 0.00002 HYPE (≈ $0.0016 at that day's HYPE price). Coming back, you sign an EVM transaction and pay normal HyperEVM gas; for USDC the app asks for two confirmations, "Approve USDC for transfer" and "Transfer USDC to HyperCore".

• Timing: a HyperCore → HyperEVM transfer waits for the next HyperEVM block (small blocks come every 1 s); HyperEVM → HyperCore is processed in the same L1 block as the EVM block that carries it.
• The 0x2222 address is for HYPE only. Sending HYPE to 0x2222222222222222222222222222222222222222 moves it across in either direction. Every other token has its own system address (0x20 followed by its token index), and the docs warn that other assets sent to the HYPE address are lost. Use the app's window instead of typing addresses.
• Exchanges: some exchanges send and receive HYPE on HyperCore but not on HyperEVM. Check which side your exchange supports and send a small test first.
• Clicked it by accident? Nothing is lost. The support FAQ: the funds "went from HyperCore to the HyperEVM"; move them back with the same button, after putting a little HYPE on the EVM for gas.

Bridging into HyperEVM from Ethereum, Arbitrum or Base without touching HyperCore is a different job, with routes compared in the Hyperliquid bridge guide. Depositing to trade lands on HyperCore: Hyperliquid deposit guide.

How to get HYPE for gas on HyperEVM

The docs give two ways. The direct one: buy HYPE with USDC on the HYPE/USDC spot market on Hyperliquid (0.070% taker / 0.040% maker at the base tier) and send it with Transfer to/from EVM. The second: a bridge or gas service from another chain; the onboarding page names Stargate, deBridge, Gas.zip and Jumper, among others. A few cents' worth of HYPE covers many transactions at normal gas prices, but keep a buffer, because the base fee rises when blocks are full. Testnet HYPE for practice comes from faucets, not from the exchange (HyperEVM testnet faucet, chain ID 998). What else HYPE is used for: HYPE token guide.

What can you do on HyperEVM?

Hyperliquid points users to community directories (ASXN, HypurrCo, HL Eco) rather than endorsing apps. To show what the activity looks like, here are the largest HyperEVM apps in four categories by DefiLlama's TVL on October 22, 2026. This is a description of usage, not a recommendation; each app is a separate team with its own contracts and risks.

DefiLlama protocol data, value counted on its "Hyperliquid L1" chain. Morpho also runs on other chains; only its Hyperliquid L1 value is shown.

Liquid staking is the largest of these categories. Native HYPE staking on HyperCore has an unstaking queue of 7 days, while a liquid-staking token keeps the staking reward and stays usable, for example as lending collateral. How native staking itself works: Hyperliquid staking. Yield options across DEXs: DEX passive income. The wider map, with Hyperliquid's own app directory, trading front ends and ecosystem tokens: Hyperliquid ecosystem.

Is HyperEVM safe? Risks to know

• App risk is yours. Hyperliquid runs the chain, not the apps on it. A bug or exploit in a lending pool or DEX contract can lose the funds in it, whatever the chain does.
• Linked tokens need checking. The docs warn that there are "no checks that the system address has sufficient supply or that the contract is a valid ERC20" and that a linked contract "may have arbitrary bytecode". Verify a token's contract before moving a large amount across; the app shows the same warning when you transfer.
• Wrong network, wrong side. HyperCore and HyperEVM share an address, so a transfer to the right address on the wrong side is common and confusing, though recoverable. A token sent to the wrong system address is not.
• Early-stage throughput. The HyperEVM launched with deliberately low capacity; gas spikes during busy periods are expected.
• Phishing. Add the network from the docs' values or Chainlist, never from a link in a direct message, and check every approval your wallet asks you to sign.

HyperEVM RPC and limits for developers

• Official RPC: https://rpc.hyperliquid.xyz/evm (testnet: chain ID 998). No websocket JSON-RPC on it, at most 100 requests a minute, only the latest block for state calls, and eth_getLogs limited to 4 topics and 50 blocks per query. For archive data and higher limits, the docs list third-party RPCs (Alchemy, QuickNode, Chainstack, dRPC and others).
• EVM version: Cancun without blobs; EIP-1559 is on, and both base and priority fees are burned. HYPE has 18 decimals on the HyperEVM; wrapped HYPE (WHYPE) is a system contract at 0x5555…5555.
• Big blocks: contracts too large for a small block (3,000,000 gas) are deployed by setting usingBigBlocks with the evmUserModify action (30,000,000 gas, one a minute); eth_bigBlockGasPrice quotes their fee.
• Talking to HyperCore: read precompiles and CoreWriter as above; order actions and vault transfers sent from CoreWriter are delayed on-chain by a few seconds. Trading through the native API instead: Hyperliquid API guide.

FAQ

Disclosure: HOLYGRAIL is our referral code; we earn a share of referred accounts' fees at no cost to you. Network values, transfer rules and limits are from the Hyperliquid docs and app read on October 22, 2026; the gas price and HYPE price are single readings from that day; TVL figures are DefiLlama's. Apps named here are examples, not endorsements. Not investment advice.