Hyperliquid-based Kinetiq Unveils KNTQ Governance Token

KNTQ will allow holders to participate in decisions shaping the Kinetiq liquid staking protocol.

The Kinetiq Foundation on Wednesday unveiled KNTQ, the official governance token for the Kinetiq protocol—the largest liquid staking platform on Hyperliquids Layer 1, HyperEVM, with a total value locked (TVL) of over $1.6 billion.

As a governance token, KNTQ will enable holders to participate in decision-making and help shape the future of the Kinetiq protocol. The token will have a maximum supply of 1 billion, and eligible airdrop recipients must agree to the Kinetiq Foundation Terms of Use by Nov. 21 at 20:00 UTC.

Kinetiqs token distribution will allocate 30% of KNTQ to protocol growth and rewards, 25% to the initial airdrop (including 1% for Hypurr holders and 24% for kPoints holders), 23.5% to core contributors, 10% to the Kinetiq Foundation, 7.5% to investors, and 4% to liquidity.

KNTQ Tokenomics

The move underscores rising demand for liquid staking on new Proof-of-Stake networks, as users seek to retain access to liquidity while earning rewards for securing the blockchains.

Liquid staking is currently the second-largest DeFi category, hitting a record $88 billion in TVL in September and sitting at just over $71 billion today. Over $53 billion of this amount is on Ethereum, per DeFiLlama.

Liquid Staking TVLRapid Growth

The token launch also highlights how quickly Kinetiq has grown since its launch in July. Its now the fastest-growing liquid staking protocol on Hyperliquid, the Kinetiq Foundation said in a post on X. Kinetiq kHYPE currently ranks 10th among liquid staking protocols, with a TVL of $1.36 billion.

Within 24 hours of launching, Kinetiq attracted over $460 million in capital across just 2,800 holders, for an average stake of $164,280 per wallet, The Defiant previously reported.

“As HyperEVM completes the unified execution layer by being attached directly to the most performant and completely onchain exchange, any application on Hyperliquid can swiftly tap into Kinetiqs composable offerings, such as liquid staking through kHYPE, or the best risk-adjusted returns on HYPE with Earn, and soon… beyond,” the Kinetiq Foundation said.