Hyperliquid is expanding its HIP-1 token standard with a new scaleWei function, giving token deployers the ability to proportionally adjust holder balances across the network in a single transaction and potentially solving an important infrastructure problem for tokenized equities.
The feature allows authorized deployers to change the denomination of every holder’s tokens simultaneously while automatically recalibrating corresponding open orders on Hyperliquid’s exchange. The mechanism could support events resembling stock splits, reverse splits and proportional distributions, without requiring holders to manually exchange their existing tokens. Although scaleWei is not exclusively designed for tokenized stocks, its functionality closely matches the requirements of corporate actions in traditional equity markets. That could become increasingly important as crypto exchanges compete to bring stocks and other real-world assets onchain.
Stock Splits Can Now Happen Without Breaking the Market
Tokenized equities create a problem that ordinary crypto tokens rarely encounter: the underlying security can change. Consider a hypothetical token representing one share of a company that conducts a 10-for-1 stock split. An investor holding one token should effectively end up with 10 units, while the price per unit falls proportionally. Without native infrastructure, issuers may need to create replacement tokens, migrate balances or require holders and liquidity providers to take action. The function can atomically scale balances across all holders, meaning the adjustment occurs as one coordinated operation rather than through thousands of separate transactions. Hyperliquid can also adjust existing exchange orders to reflect the new denomination.
For example, an investor holding 100 tokenized shares before a 2-for-1 split could have the balance automatically changed to 200. An open sell order for 10 shares at $100 could similarly be adjusted to preserve its economic value under the new denomination. The mechanism could also facilitate certain proportional distributions. Current reporting specifically points to dividend-like distributions as another potential application, although the feature should not be interpreted as creating the complete legal and operational infrastructure required for conventional corporate dividends. Control of scaleWei is restricted to the token’s original deployer or authorized vaults, preventing ordinary holders from triggering supply-wide adjustments.
Hyperliquid Builds Infrastructure for Tokenized Markets
The upgrade becomes more significant when viewed alongside the accelerating race to move traditional financial assets onchain. Tokenized stocks need considerably more infrastructure than simple price tracking. Real equities undergo splits, mergers, dividends, rights issues and other corporate actions. A blockchain-based representation needs mechanisms for reflecting those events without fragmenting liquidity or forcing investors into cumbersome token migrations. It also expands the role of HIP-1, Hyperliquid’s framework for permissionless spot-token deployment. By making token balances dynamically adjustable, HIP-1 becomes better suited to assets whose economic structure can change after issuance.
Representing corporate actions technically is only one part of tokenization. Securities issuers and trading venues still need to address custody of underlying shares, shareholder rights, regulatory compliance, transfer restrictions and the legal relationship between an onchain token and the security it represents. Coinbase has received Abu Dhabi approval to establish a global tokenized-securities hub, while NYSE is developing blockchain-based infrastructure for tokenized securities. Major banks and asset managers are also experimenting with tokenized funds and bonds. Rather than rebuilding traditional securities infrastructure on blockchain, it is adding traditional financial-market functionality directly to an existing high-volume onchain exchange. scaleWei may look like a relatively small technical addition to HIP-1. Its importance lies in what it makes possible. Tokenized stocks cannot become functional replacements for traditional securities if their blockchain representations cannot accommodate what happens to real companies and their shares.