In mid-June, digital eye care company Eyenovia (Nasdaq: EYEN) announced a $50 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing round. The company revealed that the raised capital would be used to establish its first-ever cryptocurrency reserve strategy, specifically targeting the Hyperliquid ecosystem’s native token, HYPE.
Following the announcement, EYEN’s stock price surged dramatically. By the close of the trading week, the firm’s market capitalization had quadrupled, climbing to $80 million.
To oversee this strategic shift, Eyenovia appointed Hyunsu Jung as its new Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and board member. In a related move, the company is rebranding to Hyperion DeFi effective July 3, with its stock ticker changing to HYPD.
What led a struggling ophthalmology company to make such a drastic pivot toward crypto? Who is Hyunsu Jung, the executive leading this change? And what makes HYPE a compelling asset for corporate treasury diversification?
From Ophthalmology to Crypto: Eyenovia’s Transformation
Eyenovia went public in February 2018 at $800 per share but saw its stock price decline steadily over the years. By April 2025, shares had fallen below $1, putting the company at risk of being delisted from Nasdaq.
The company’s core business centered on micro-dosing eye care equipment, including its flagship product, Optejet, designed for post-surgery treatment and childhood myopia. Despite its innovative approach, Eyenovia’s financial performance was weak. In 2024, it reported annual revenue of just $56,000 alongside a net loss of $50 million.
Facing dwindling prospects in its traditional sector, Eyenovia turned toward cryptocurrency as a potential lifeline.
The company’s $50 million PIPE financing involves the issuance of 15.4 million shares of convertible preferred stock and 30.8 million common stock warrants. If fully exercised, these warrants could raise an additional $100 million, bringing the total potential financing to $150 million.
Eyenovia has already purchased 1,040,584.5 HYPE tokens at an average price of $34 per token. These assets are held in custody with Anchorage Digital. The market reacted strongly to the news, with Eyenovia’s stock price rising 134% in a single day.
Hyunsu Jung stated that Eyenovia aims to become the largest publicly traded holder of HYPE tokens.
The New Leadership: Hyunsu Jung’s Journey from TradFi to DeFi
The appointment of Hyunsu Jung as CIO raised eyebrows, particularly because Eyenovia had no prior involvement in blockchain. Jung began his career in traditional finance, working as a consultant at EY-Parthenon where he engaged in significant corporate mergers and acquisitions.
In 2021, he transitioned into the crypto industry, joining DARMA Capital—a digital asset advisory firm founded by Andrew Keys, a co-founder of ConsenSys. At DARMA, Jung led the development of a Filecoin asset utilization product designed to lower the capital barriers for decentralized storage providers.
Jung’s connection to Hyperliquid stems from his longstanding friendship with Max, a core member of the Hyperliquid community. The two met years ago as exchange students in Edinburgh and later lived together in San Juan while exploring early crypto opportunities.
Jung has been actively involved in the Hyperliquid ecosystem since its public testnet phase in 2023.
Eyenovia’s Broader Strategy: Beyond Holding HYPE
Eyenovia is not the first public company to experiment with crypto treasury reserves. Earlier in June, Canadian firm Tony G Co-Investment Holdings Ltd. purchased 10,000 HYPE tokens, causing its stock to surge over 800% in under an hour.
However, Eyenovia’s approach is more systematic. Under Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 protocol, launching a new token market requires staking at least 1 million HYPE. Node operators can further influence transaction pricing, creating a “cost + yield” composite model.
The company is also exploring more advanced DeFi strategies. Community members have proposed a long-term concept involving HYPE-based structured products, including bond tokens, NFT options, liquidity provision, vault strategies, and perpetual contracts.
On June 25, Eyenovia announced a partnership with Kinetiq, Hyperliquid’s native staking protocol, to launch a joint validator node: Kinetiq x Hyperion. This node is supported by Pier Two, an institutional-grade node service provider.
Hyunsu Jung outlined two potential future initiatives for Eyenovia:
- Partnering with trading firms to allow them to stake HYPE and enjoy fee discounts without direct exposure to the token.
- Using referral codes on Hyperliquid’s interface to transfer fee discounts to new users, improving competitiveness for smaller trading interfaces.
Although Eyenovia does not currently plan to develop its own on-chain products, it aims to be an active investor within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The company may also participate in DeFi applications on HyperEVM, with a focus on liquidity staking tokens (LST) and lending markets.
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Why HYPE Over Bitcoin or Ethereum?
Corporate treasury strategies involving Bitcoin and Ethereum are well-documented. MicroStrategy’s aggressive Bitcoin accumulation since 2020 has driven its stock from under $20 to over $370 by 2025, with a market cap exceeding $100 billion.
Similarly, SharpLink Gaming (SBET) saw its stock rise 500% in May 2025 after announcing a $425 million private financing round to purchase 163,000 ETH.
So why did Eyenovia choose HYPE?
Jung points to HYPE’s deflationary token economics. Hyperliquid uses a portion of its trading fees to buy back and burn HYPE tokens, permanently reducing supply. As of June 2025, over 25 million HYPE had been burned, making it one of the most deflationary assets among major cryptocurrencies.
This deflationary characteristic makes HYPE particularly suitable as collateral in DeFi applications. While Bitcoin is often viewed as digital gold and Ethereum has deflationary mechanisms via EIP-1559, both still face inflationary pressures from mining and staking rewards.
HYPE’s value is also tied to Hyperliquid’s growing transaction volume. As the platform’s user base and trading activity increase, so does the revenue used to buy back and burn tokens—creating a positive feedback loop.
Moreover, HYPE is not yet widely held by institutions or retail investors, offering early exposure to a high-growth asset. Jung describes HYPE as a “productive asset” that can be staked to earn fee reductions and other utilities.
Sustainability and Risk Management
Eyenovia’s bold move has sparked debate. Can holding HYPE truly create a sustainable, profit-generating, and governance-enabled treasury model? Or is the company simply providing early investors with an exit opportunity?
Jung argues that any conscious on-chain participation helps increase awareness and adoption of Hyperliquid. He also emphasizes that Eyenovia has a fiduciary duty to execute its treasury strategy efficiently.
The company purchased its HYPE tokens from the secondary market, which may have reduced selling pressure. All transactions were conducted through regulated custodians like Anchorage, ensuring transparency and compliance.
Inevitably, holding volatile assets requires robust risk management. Jung confirmed that Eyenovia has hedging strategies in place to mitigate potential downside risks. These may include using derivatives to lock in profits or protective options to shield against severe market downturns.
The company is also focused on generating yield through staking and node operation—revenue streams that are less dependent token price appreciation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Eyenovia’s new business strategy?
Eyenovia is shifting from ophthalmology to digital asset management. After raising $50 million, the company is investing heavily in HYPE—the native token of the Hyperliquid ecosystem. It also plans to rebrand as Hyperion DeFi.
Why did Eyenovia choose HYPE over Bitcoin?
HYPE offers a deflationary token model, high growth potential tied to Hyperliquid’s trading volume, and utility through staking and fee reduction. These characteristics make it attractive for corporate treasury diversification.
How does Eyenovia plan to generate returns?
Beyond token appreciation, Eyenovia will stake HYPE to earn yields, operate validator nodes, and explore DeFi opportunities such as liquidity provision and lending markets.
What are the risks involved?
Like all crypto assets, HYPE is volatile. Eyenovia is using institutional custodians and developing hedging strategies to manage potential downside risks.
Will Eyenovia develop its own blockchain products?
Not immediately. The company intends to be an active investor and participant within the Hyperliquid ecosystem rather than a builder of standalone products.
Is this strategy similar to MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin approach?
Yes, but with added components like staking, node operation, and deeper ecosystem involvement—making it a more active form of treasury management.
Conclusion
Eyenovia’s pivot toward Hyperliquid and its HYPE token represents a novel experiment in corporate treasury management. While the strategy carries inherent risks associated with crypto volatility, it also opens new avenues for revenue generation and shareholder value creation.
The success of this approach depends heavily on Hyperliquid’s continued growth and the broader adoption of decentralized perpetual trading markets. As traditional finance and blockchain continue to converge, Eyenovia’s journey may offer valuable insights for other companies exploring crypto-based transformations.
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