One Token. Many Chains.
One of Hyperlane’s core use cases is enabling teams to launch natively multichain tokens from day one.
Doing so allows teams to expand the reach and adoption of their token, by meeting their users where they already are - on their preferred chains. With Hyperlane, teams can fully own their multichain token - from start to finish.
The launch of HYPER, the native Hyperlane token, is a premier example of what teams can achieve by launching their token with Hyperlane:
✅ Natively multichain token from day one.
✅ Multichain staking rewards live from day one.
✅ Multichain distribution from day one.
And because Hyperlane is fully open-source, permissionless to use, and customizable, any team launching a token can access the same tooling to go multichain from day one.
Why Go Multichain?
Going multichain is not about being everywhere - it’s about being where it matters.
Anyone launching a token - whether they’re a new chain, app, or restaking protocol - knows that going live is only a part of the process: the real challenge lies in its distribution. Teams want to maximize their token’s reach and adoption. They want to expand their holder base, deepen liquidity, and get their token into as many of their users’ hands as possible.
But how? Users are dispersed across different chains and ecosystems today. Whether it’s L2s across the Ethereum ecosystem, Cosmos appchains, Solana, or even the latest SVM-based L2s - users go where the apps are, where the gas fees are lower, and where onboarding is easiest.
Nowadays, meeting users where they are means going multichain. And not on day 30 or day 60 - on day 1.
- Users get to access your token from their preferred chains - expanding access to more users overall.
- Token supply remains consistent, not fragmented across multiple wrapped tokens.
- Teams are resilient to risks like network congestion, or gas fee spikes - whether it’s during launch or later down the road.
Going multichain can also offer unique, case-specific advantages for teams. For instance, the MilkyWay team wanted to join the Binance Alpha accelerator - but this presented an inherent challenge as MilkyWay, a Cosmos chain, would need to bring their MILK token to BNB Chain, a non-Cosmos chain. With Hyperlane, they launched MILK as a multichain token - preserving their user base on MilkyWay mainnet while also being able to expand their reach to the Binance ecosystem.
Luckily, launching a multichain token doesn’t require teams to build their own bridge or interoperability stack from scratch - that’s where Hyperlane comes in.
Going Multichain With Hyperlane
Hyperlane’s open, permissionless framework provides the tooling and infrastructure teams need to launch natively multichain tokens from day one. Whether teams need a solution they can easily deploy out-of-the-box, or one that they can fine-tune to their specific needs, Hyperlane remains flexible to builders’ needs.
There’s no better example to demonstrate this than with the launch of Hyperlane’s native token, HYPER.
The HYPER Launch
HYPER officially went live on April 22, designed to align incentives around the security, reliability, and adoption of Hyperlane as a community-owned open standard for interoperability. A core part of the TGE was the Expansion Drop, which distributed retroactive rewards to Hyperlane’s earliest users:
HYPER’s launch marked a significant milestone for Hyperlane, stress-testing the protocol’s capacity for handling high-demand, multichain token launches.
Let’s take a closer look at HYPER's key features and how other teams can use this for their tokens:
Natively Multichain From Day One
HYPER launched as a natively multichain token on 5 different chains - Ethereum, Arbitrum One, Base, OP Mainnet, and BNB Chain (see the HYPER contracts here). This means users can access HYPER directly on their preferred chain, without dealing with wrapped assets, while HYPER maintains one, unified total supply.
This is made possible thanks to the Hyperlane Warp Asset framework - a modular, flexible framework for issuing and bridging multichain tokens. Simply put, each token also functions as a Warp Route — meaning that bridging is built directly into the token itself.
HYPER uses a classic burn-and-mint bridging mechanism when moved between chains:
- It is first burned on the origin chain,
- Then the same amount is minted on the destination chain.
Note that in this set-up, burning and minting is determined by the Interchain Security Module (ISM) for that particular token contract. These ISMs are owned and configured by the token issuer, ensuring that they are in control over their token supply.
Together, this architecture gives teams complete control over their token’s multichain functionality — while their users enjoy the convenience of a native token across different chains. That said, HYPER’s implementation is just one example of what teams can do with Hyperlane - the open framework is flexible to support a variety of multichain token standards today.
But what about integrating more functionality into a token - like staking?
Multichain Staking Live On Day One
Another key feature of the HYPER launch was day-one staking, enabled through staked HYPER (stHYPER)- the liquid staked version of the HYPER token. Staking gives teams a way to secure their chain or app. For Hyperlane, staking helps secure crosschain messages - and is a key part of HYPER is securely bridged between chains (read more).
Multichain staking complements this utility by expanding access to staking across different chains and ecosystems. For teams, this allows them to scale their staking programs while keeping their staking rewards consistent, rather than managing separate reward pools or systems on each chain.
Though the staking contract for stHYPER lives on Ethereum mainnet, stHYPER launched on both Ethereum and BNB Chain on day one. This gave stakers access to stHYPER on a lower-cost chain without compromising their ability to receive staking rewards in the future.
How Multichain Staking Works: Yield Routes
This multichain staking approach is made possible through Yield Routes, Hyperlane’s token bridging framework for yield-bearing tokens. Yield Routes extend the ERC-4626 standard across chains through a Collateral → Synthetic bridging design - where tokens are first locked on a collateral chain and synthetically minted on a destination chain.
Yield Routes were specifically designed to enable access to yield-bearing tokens across chains. Teams can maintain a single reward mechanism, on one chain, while still providing access to users on other chains- allowing them to easily scale their staking programs to multiple ecosystems.
When stHYPER is bridged from Ethereum → BNB Chain, it is first locked on Ethereum, the collateral chain, and then synthetically minted 1:1 on BNB Chain, the synthetic chain. To ensure stakers on BNB Chain receive staking rewards, stHYPER on BNB Chain follows a rebasing mechanism, where stakers’ stHYPER balances automatically adjust to reflect rewards earned on Ethereum. As staking rewards accrue to stHYPER on Ethereum, the synthetic stHYPER on BNB Chain updates accordingly.
stHYPER demonstrates how teams can integrate more functionality into their token - with staking, rebasing, and yield tracking - into a unified multichain token experience with Hyperlane.
Multichain Distribution
The HYPER launch also showcased the power of multichain token distribution through the Expansion Drop. With HYPER launching natively on 5 different chains, the 340k+ eligible users were able to claim their tokens directly on their preferred chain.
To do this, Hyperlane utilized 7 different Merkle distributors across the supported chains. This distributed approach prevented network congestion and kept costs low - over 95% of users paid less than $1 in fees to claim their HYPER. Similarly, stHYPER was also available on both Ethereum and BNB Chain from day one.
By launching a multichain token from day one with Hyperlane, teams can distribute it across each supported chain directly - meeting users where they are, without requiring them to bridge over to new chains, set up new wallets, or pay high gas fees.
Ready to Go Multichain?
The HYPER launch demonstrates what’s possible when launching a multichain token with Hyperlane:
✅ Natively multichain from day one.
✅ Multichain staking live from day one.
✅ Multichain distribution for a user-friendly experience.
With Hyperlane’s open, permissionless framework, any team can take advantage and get flexible, day-one bridging for their token too.
Need help getting started?
- Let us know how we can help or reach out to @CameronMichaelSmith on Telegram.
Ready to deploy?
- All of Hyperlane’s docs and code are publicly available and open-source for teams to start building with today.
Don’t wait - go multichain from day one with Hyperlane.
Expansion.
About Hyperlane
Hyperlane is an open framework for interoperability. It is the toolkit empowering developers to connect any chain and build applications that can easily and securely communicate between multiple blockchains.
