Former PayPal Capital Markets Head David Knox Appointed Hyperion DeFi CFO

Executive Summary

David Knox, formerly Head of Capital Markets at PayPal Holdings Inc., has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Hyperion DeFi Inc., a publicly listed digital asset treasury company. This executive transition signals an accelerated convergence of traditional financial expertise with the decentralized finance sector.

The Event in Detail

On September 29, 2025, Hyperion DeFi Inc. (NASDAQ: HYPD) announced the immediate appointment of David Knox, CFA, as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Knox joins Hyperion DeFi from PayPal, where he served concurrently as Head of Capital Markets and Head of Finance for Global Credit and Financial Services from April 2024 to September 2025. In his dual role at PayPal, Knox was responsible for supporting the profitable growth of the company's lending segments under a 'balance sheet light' strategic imperative and managed core financial planning and analysis (FP&A) across PayPal and Venmo platforms.

Prior to his tenure at PayPal, Knox held various roles at SoFi Technologies, Inc., including Vice President of Capital Markets and Business Lead for Refi Student Loans from June 2020 to March 2024. He also served as Director at Cantor Fitzgerald from September 2018 to June 2020, where he provided capital markets structuring and advisory services for mortgage-backed and asset-backed finance transactions. His earlier career includes roles in lending and capital markets at Hudson Advisors L.P. and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Hyperion DeFi, which rebranded from Eyenovia and changed its Nasdaq ticker symbol to HYPD in July 2025, focuses on building a long-term strategic treasury of HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange (DEX). As part of his appointment, Mr. Knox received an Inducement Grant of 100,000 restricted stock units.

Market Implications

Mr. Knox's move from a prominent traditional financial institution to a digital asset firm underscores the increasing appeal and perceived legitimacy of the crypto and DeFi sectors for seasoned finance professionals. This transition is viewed as a strategic talent acquisition, leveraging Knox's extensive background in scaling capital markets strategies and financial services to accelerate Hyperion DeFi's decentralized finance strategy.

Hyperion DeFi has been actively building its HYPE token treasury. The company recently announced an additional $10 million acquisition, bringing its total holdings to 1,712,195 HYPE tokens. These holdings are valued at approximately $79 million, based on a HYPE price of $46.09. With an average purchase price of $48.25 per token, Hyperion's HYPE treasury carries an unrealized profit of approximately $13.4 million. This positions Hyperion's treasury as the largest of its kind, significantly exceeding competitors such as Lion Group Holding's 128,929 HYPE stash.

The HYPE token itself provides utility through reduced trading fees and increased referral bonuses within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Over 30 million HYPE tokens have been autonomously sequestered by the blockchain using trading fees generated on the network's order books, contributing to its position as the 16th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as of September 2025.

Expert Commentary

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Knox stated his view that engaging with Hyperliquid and crypto represents an 'incredible opportunity to be at the cutting edge of financial innovation.' He expressed his intention to 'leverage my extensive industry connections across institutional finance, especially in fixed income and structured products such as ABS, CLO, and whole loans' to 'help position Hyperion DeFi as the bridge between Wall Street and the decentralized future.'

Hyunsu Jung, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Hyperion DeFi, remarked, 'David has helped lead some of the largest financial institutions in the world, and now he's bringing that expertise to accelerate our mission of moving institutional finance to Hyperliquid.'

Broader Context

This appointment is part of a broader trend of high-profile executives transitioning from traditional finance to the digital asset space, signaling growing institutional confidence and investment in Web3 technologies. The integration of established financial expertise, particularly in structured products and capital markets, is expected to enhance the development of sophisticated financial instruments within the blockchain ecosystem. Hyperion DeFi's strategy, involving a publicly listed company building a substantial digital asset treasury, provides a model for how traditional markets may increasingly engage with decentralized finance and native blockchain tokens, potentially accelerating corporate adoption and institutional investment in the wider Web3 ecosystem.