In the Arena | June 1, 2026

“3 observations and a chart” on the latest in the digital assets sector

Hyperliquid emerges as one of crypto’s defining success stories – HYPE up >100% YTD on 24x7 trading across digital assets, oil and pre-IPO companies

Hyperliquid has emerged as one of crypto’s defining success stories in 2026. The decentralized trading platform, which operates 24x7x365, is rapidly becoming a preferred venue for retail and institutional investors seeking exposure across commodities, equities, prediction markets, and most recently, pre-IPO private companies such as SpaceX and Cerebras. Hyperliquid has reportedly dominated trading activity tied to synthetic pre-IPO SpaceX exposure ahead of the company’s anticipated IPO. The price of Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, has reflected this growth, surging more than 100% year-to-date and becoming one of the standout performers in digital assets this year. We highlight not only a significant business success story, but also how blockchain-based infrastructure is increasingly expanding access to investment opportunities historically unavailable to most investors.

Polymarket and Nasdaq partner on private market trading – crypto success story #2 in opening private markets to broader investor base 

Blockchain-based prediction markets like Polymarket are a related crypto success story providing investors with broader access to private markets. Polymarket recently launched prediction markets tied to private company milestones through an exclusive partnership with Nasdaq Private Market. Users may trade on outcomes tied to IPO timing, valuations, and secondary market activity for firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, Kraken, and Databricks. For example, Polymarket offered the first live market tracking whether Anthropic's valuation hits various tiers between $600 billion and $3 trillion by year end. Nasdaq Private Market serves as the exclusive resolution data provider, bringing institutional-grade private market data into crypto-native prediction markets. We highlight that with roughly 1,600 unicorns now representing more than $5 trillion in aggregate private market value, prediction markets may increasingly function as a real-time layer for price discovery and sentiment formation outside traditional financial channels.

Western Union moves settlement onto crypto rails 

Western Union officially launched USDPT, its U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin built on Solana and issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, as part of a broader effort to modernize its global payments infrastructure. The company stated that USDPT will function as an “always-on settlement asset” integrated directly into Western Union’s payment systems, enabling near-instant, 24/7 settlement across its global network while reducing reliance on traditional correspondent banking infrastructure. We have frequently highlighted blockchain's potential to improve the cost and efficiency of global remittances, particularly compared to traditional systems that can involve high fees (6% or more), settlement delays, and operational friction. We highlight that a 175-year-old payments company long synonymous with global remittances is now actively moving its infrastructure onto crypto rails.

Chart of the Month – Forecasts for tokenized assets vary in scale, but all point to significant expansion

Source: “The Tokenization Boom in 7 Charts”, a16z https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/p/the-tokenization-boom-in-7-charts?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9093750a-26b5-45b0-9109-ca59de1d3db7_2000x2000.jpeg&open=false

Arena Digital Capital Partners is a liquid evergreen fund open to monthly subscriptions. We are always happy to discuss further with you or investors you think may have an interest in the sector. Please reach out to Bill Cline at williamc@arenadigital.capital.

Sincerely,

The Arena Digital Capital Management Team

Michael Schwartz, Michael Prober & William Cline

www.arenadigital.capital

Arena Digital Capital Management was founded in January 2022 by three experienced traditional finance hedge fund professionals who have been deploying personal capital in the digital asset ecosystem since 2018. The team has managed billions of dollars of capital for high net worth individuals, family offices, and institutions ranging from pension plans and endowments to sovereign wealth funds. We have worked closely with institutional consultants, RIAs, and other advisors in serving their clients.

In May 2022 we launched Arena Digital Capital Partners, with the goal of providing a multi-strategy investment vehicle to access the digital asset ecosystem. Our mandate is to offer broad exposure across the growing digital asset and blockchain sector with an appropriate level of diversification, professional oversight, and manager selection. Our collection of skill sets and our history in the business allows us to understand, assess, and engage with the practitioners of this nascent asset class with a level of diligence required to be responsible stewards of capital. We are happy to periodically share our observations with you.

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