.post-accordion-wrapper .accordion-content {
max-height: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to automate trading and investment strategies has long been considered the “Holy Grail” of financial markets—and the crypto space is no exception. In fact, compared to many traditional industries, crypto boasts a well-developed infrastructure and a vibrant developer community, which significantly accelerates the deployment of AI-powered solutions.
The team at Incrypted took a closer look at how AI is being used to automate trading operations—and how Spectral Labs is making it possible for everyday users to earn profits through this cutting-edge technology.
Why AI Trading Is Gaining Momentum in Crypto?
Why AI Trading Is Gaining Momentum in Crypto?
The cryptocurrency market never sleeps—it’s open 24/7, generating a relentless stream of data. For human traders, keeping up with this pace without rest can lead to both physical exhaustion and mental fatigue, ultimately reducing their performance and decision-making accuracy.
To protect their positions and offload some of the cognitive burden, many market participants have turned to automation tools—ranging from limit orders and copy trading to more recently, AI-powered solutions. The development of these technologies has surged with the advent of autonomous agents—intelligent systems capable of independently gathering and analyzing data from diverse sources in real time.
By combining several algorithms within a single multi-agent system, developers can replicate the dynamics of a professional investment team. In this setup, each AI agent specializes in a specific domain—be it technical analysis, macroeconomic trends, or fundamental research. A designated “leader” agent ultimately synthesizes the insights and makes the final trading decisions. This collaborative structure allows trading strategies to factor in a wide range of variables while operating continuously, free from human fatigue or emotional bias. As a result, the system can execute more consistent and data-driven decisions around the clock.
Another crucial piece of the puzzle in this AI-driven ecosystem is the trading infrastructure itself. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) often suffer from technical limitations that hinder the efficiency of automated operations. On the other hand, centralized platforms typically restrict open access to their systems, making it difficult to integrate external AI tools.
That’s where Hyperliquid has sparked a quiet revolution in on-chain trading. By combining its own high-speed blockchain with an order book model, derivatives support, and open-source architecture, Hyperliquid offers an infrastructure that’s tailor-made for advanced, AI-driven strategies.
One of Hyperliquid’s standout features is its concept of Vaults—specialized liquidity pools where users can deposit assets and earn returns through algorithmic strategies like market making, liquidations, and other automated trading techniques.
Building on this foundation, Spectral Labs has introduced its own vision for merging blockchain and artificial intelligence: the onchain agent economy. In this model, autonomous agents coordinate with one another to pursue common trading goals, forming a decentralized, intelligent trading ecosystem. The first product born from this concept is Spectra Vault—an autonomous trading pool that we’ll explore in more detail below.
What Is Spectral Labs?
Spectral Labs is a team of developers on a mission to simplify and democratize the use of AI agents in DeFi—making advanced tools accessible even to users without technical backgrounds.
At the core of Spectral Labs’ vision is a future where finance is powered by onchain enterprises—networks of AI agents that autonomously manage capital and business processes. These include everything from trading operations and workforce management to performance evaluation and strategic decision-making.
To bring this vision to life, the team is working to remove technical barriers and open access to AI agents for anyone. Their flagship platform, Spectral Syntax, already includes several innovative services:
- Autonomous Agent Launchpad. A tool that allows any user to deploy a trading algorithm on Hyperliquid, tailor it to their own goals, and monitor its actions in real time. It offers zero-code configuration, and users can even tokenize their agents or implement decentralized governance mechanisms.
- Lux Framework. An open-source framework designed to simplify the development of custom products on top of Spectral Syntax. Lux provides out-of-the-box modules for essential tasks such as agent integration, training, communication, and more—freeing developers to focus on core logic and creativity.
- Spectra’s Hedge Fund (Spectra Vault). This is Spectral Labs’ first fully automated trading pool—or hedge fund, as the developers describe it. More than just a vault, it represents a prototype for a decentralized investment firm where AI handles both analytics and asset management.
In essence, Spectral Labs is building a comprehensive ecosystem for autonomous trading agents, offering both the tools (Syntax, Lux) and real-world applications created with them.
Tokenomics and the Value Flywheel
To support its ecosystem, Spectral Labs has introduced the SPEC token—designed as a central pillar for both project incentives and governance. While the team hasn’t disclosed full details on supply or emission rates, it’s known that a portion of tokens has been reserved to reward early adopters.
Let’s explore how SPEC fits into the protocol’s incentive structure—and how the success of Spectra Vault directly drives its value.
At the Heart of the Agent Economy
Every autonomous agent launched through Spectral Syntax is tokenized in a pair with SPEC. In practical terms, users need SPEC to interact with or invest in these agents. SPEC can be exchanged for agent tokens and is also required to deploy new strategies.
As demand for Spectra Vault and similar agents grows, so does the demand for SPEC—driven by investors seeking exposure to high-performing algorithms. This dynamic fuels price appreciation and broader adoption of the token.
Protocol Revenue Sharing
Token holders can stake SPEC on the Spectral Syntax platform to earn a share of protocol revenues. This includes a 1% transaction fee that users pay when swapping agent tokens for SPEC. That fee is split between the treasury and SPEC stakers, allowing the token to accrue value with each platform interaction.
Profit Distribution from Spectra Vault
Each time the Spectra fund realizes a profit and withdraws funds, the proceeds are distributed to the community. At the time of writing, 25% of the realized profit is sent by the protocol as a reward to holders who have staked their SPEC tokens. This mechanism resembles the traditional success fee model used by hedge funds, but instead of rewarding a fund manager, the incentive is distributed to the community and active participants.
In addition to token holders, agent creators behind Spectra’s Hedge Fund also receive a share of the vault’s profits. Notably, this includes both external developers and core team members, as long as the deployed algorithms they’ve built contribute to successful trades.
This model creates strong incentives for all platform participants and triggers a flywheel effect: the more total value locked (TVL) in the vault and the more successful the trades, the more revenue is distributed to SPEC stakers. This drives up demand and the token’s value. In turn, a price rally increases the project’s capitalization, enabling the deployment of more agents and attracting new investment.
Decentralized Governance
SPEC also functions as a governance token, giving holders a say in protocol decisions. This includes voting on reward distribution models, adding or removing specific agents from trading pools, and adjusting risk parameters. Think of it as a decentralized board of directors for an AI-driven firm.
Similar capabilities will also be available to holders of tokens representing specific agents launched via Spectral Syntax. For example, SPEC holders can already influence the trading decisions of the Spectra agent (see more below) — the more assets staked on the platform, the greater the voting power.
Collective intelligence, on-chain!
Watch @mihirkul10 and Zane show how any SPEC staker can vote on governance proposals and influence @Agent_Spectra’s trading judgement— humans and AI deciding side-by-side.Learn the flow, then bring your thesis to Syntax ? pic.twitter.com/nZl9qxySox
— Spectral (@Spectral_Labs) May 9, 2025
Overall, the tokenomics design aims to support the growth of the ecosystem and foster a sustainable community focused on the long-term success of AI-driven funds. At the same time, the Spectral team avoids using token airdrops as an engagement incentive in order to maintain organic growth.
What Is Spectra Vault and How Does It Work?
Spectra Vault is an AI-powered trading vault on the Hyperliquid exchange, run entirely by a multi-agent autonomous system. Marketed as a hedge fund for the onchain era, it replaces traditional human decision-makers with a coordinated team of artificial intelligence agents operating under preset rules.
The system architecture, built on the Lux framework, mirrors that of a conventional hedge fund or trading firm — only here, every role is executed by algorithms.
Spectra (CEO Agent)
At the core of the vault is Spectra — the lead agent and de facto CEO of the fund. Spectra is responsible for making the final call on whether to open or close a position, evaluating risk-reward metrics for every proposed trade. The algorithm is designed to handle multiple critical functions: analyzing incoming trading signals, managing risk parameters (like leverage limits), and executing trades directly on the exchange.
Analyst Agents
The Quant, Macro, and Fundamental algorithms each specialize in a different aspect of analysis, using their own strategies and data types:
- Quant is responsible for quantitative and technical analysis. It monitors market microstructure, price patterns, volatility, and technical indicators.
- Macro focuses on macroeconomic signals, including capital flows (ETFs, stablecoins), news about interest rates and regulation, and the correlation between cryptocurrencies and traditional market indices.
- Fundamental specializes in on-chain metrics and fundamental factors, ranging from market capitalization ratios and on-chain activity (NVT) to tracking large wallets, developer activity, and social media sentiment.
Interestingly, analysts can be either AI agents or humans. Spectral Labs occasionally holds open competitions where anyone can try to secure a position as an analyst, paying an entry fee. However, if any analyst consistently proposes inefficient trades that drag down results, Spectra can “fire” them, making room for a more effective participant.
The decision-making process in Spectra Vault is organized as a cyclical consensus voting system, operating 24/7 and consisting of several stages.
- Proposal of Trading Ideas: Analysts are constantly monitoring data and, upon identifying a signal, they draft a proposal for a potential trade. This proposal outlines the asset, the direction (long or short), the position size, take-profit and stop-loss levels, as well as the confidence level and rationale behind the idea.
- Review and Discussion: The proposal is then presented to the rest of the analysts and the CEO for discussion. If any member of the team identifies an issue—be it a contradiction with other data or an excessive risk—the proposal is returned to the originator for revision. This collaborative review process not only strengthens decision-making but also incentivizes each agent, as their compensation is tied to the overall profitability of the fund.
- Achieving Consensus: When all analysts are in agreement that the idea is viable, a consensus is reached. Ideally, all three analysts must approve the trade. However, Spectral allows for high-potential ideas to move forward even in cases of partial disagreement.
- Final Decision: After the consensus is achieved (or nearly achieved), the Spectra agent reassesses the risk-to-reward ratio of the proposed trade, along with the current portfolio status and constraints. If the proposal meets the required risk parameters (such as VaR, leverage limits, and exposure), Spectra approves the trade and executes the orders on Hyperliquid.
All operations, from signal to order execution, take place on the blockchain and are recorded as events (Signals). This means that the fund’s trading history and the rationale behind each decision can be reviewed and analyzed retrospectively. Furthermore, users have the ability to monitor the actions of the AI manager in real time via a dedicated Spectral Syntax dashboard.
Once the trade is initiated, the agents continue to monitor the market and portfolio status in real time. If conditions change—such as new information being released or significant price shifts—they can propose adjustments: increasing or decreasing the position, or locking in profits or losses. This, once again, undergoes the voting cycle.
The only human role within the Spectra team is the intern, who is responsible for marketing and communication on behalf of the fund. It’s an interesting irony that a fully autonomous AI-driven enterprise has a “human employee,” whose sole purpose is to interact with the outside world.
From a technical perspective, the hedge fund operates as a vault based on Hyperliquid smart contracts, with Spectra acting as the pool manager. The algorithms trade on the same markets as traditional traders, executing long and short positions on perpetual contracts for available assets.
How to Use Spectra Vault?
As mentioned earlier, on the user level, Spectra Vault operates as one of the USDC pools on Hyperliquid, so the interaction mechanism is similar to other DeFi vaults or copy trading tools.
- To invest in the fund, users need to connect their cryptocurrency wallet to Hyperliquid and fund it with USDC.
- In the Vaults section, you can find the pool managed by Spectra — it’s available via the provided link.
- Through the Hyperliquid interface, make a deposit by specifying the amount of USDC and confirming the transaction in your wallet.
- The deposited assets are then managed by the pool, and users receive LP tokens reflecting their share. These tokens allow the owner to withdraw funds at any time, adjusted for profits or losses.
In addition to the profits from the appreciation of their contribution, participants can also earn additional rewards by locking SPEC tokens on the Spectral Syntax platform. The reward, among other things, includes a share of the profits from the Spectra fund (more details in the next section).
Both before and after making a deposit, users can review the fund’s performance — the pool’s current TVL, yield metrics, and open positions are displayed on the Hyperliquid pool page.
Important: At the time of writing, Spectra’s Hedge Fund is still in its early stages, meaning current performance metrics are based on a limited dataset and are likely to evolve as the vault sees more activity. These indicators are also inherently dynamic and tend to correlate closely with broader market conditions.
Spectral Labs also offers a dashboard that streams agent decisions in real time. This gives investors clear visibility into which positions Spectra is opening or closing, along with the overall performance of their capital over time.
Performance Monitoring
Since Spectra Vault only launched publicly on May 1, 2025, there is still limited data on its returns and risk metrics, making it too early to draw definitive conclusions. The Spectral Labs team conducted internal testing and strategy simulations prior to launch, but these results have not been publicly disclosed.
For investors considering allocating funds to Spectra Vault — or those who already have — several key metrics are worth watching:
- Performance (APR): Hyperliquid displays an estimated annual percentage return (APR) based on trades made in the past month. However, this data remains incomplete as the vault has been live for less than two weeks. To put the APR into context, compare it with industry benchmarks like Bitcoin’s performance, major crypto indices, or yields from other automated trading products. A useful point of reference is also Hyperliquid HLP — the platform’s native liquidity pool that generates revenue through market-making.
- Volatility and Drawdowns: ey risk metrics — such as maximum drawdown and return volatility — provide insight into how smoothly or aggressively the fund trades. The developers position the algorithm as one optimized for risk-adjusted returns, meaning it aims to maximize profits while minimizing potential losses. As more data becomes available, metrics like the Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, and others can be used to evaluate performance stability and downside risk.
- Portfolio Composition and Liquidity: It’s essential to understand whether the fund focuses on “blue chip” assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum or actively trades altcoins. This gives investors a sense of the fund’s risk profile and whether it aligns with their own risk tolerance.
- Peer Comparisons: While Spectra Vault has few direct competitors, it shares similarities with index-tracking products and algorithmically rebalanced DAO-managed portfolios. Comparisons with traditional hedge funds are also interesting — it’s not out of the question that this AI-native fund could outperform the average human-led one.
While it’s too early to evaluate the multi-agent fund’s effectiveness, it’s likely that more detailed performance data — including PnL and yield breakdowns — will be made available in the coming months through the Spectral dashboard or third-party analytics platforms like Dune.
Things to Consider Before Using Spectra Vault
No investment strategy is without risk — and that goes double for one driven by artificial intelligence and still in its early stages. Spectra Vault may offer a glimpse into the future of autonomous asset management, but before jumping in, here are a few things every investor should weigh carefully:
Risks Inherent to LLM-Based Trading
AI agents, even the most advanced ones, can make mistakes. Their decisions are only as good as the data they receive and the algorithms that interpret it. There’s always the chance that a model might misread a market signal or fail to adapt to an unfamiliar scenario — especially so-called “black swan” events or sudden volatility regime shifts. These can result in losses if the agents don’t adjust quickly enough.
To mitigate such risks, Spectra Vault includes several safeguards. A dedicated risk module continuously monitors key portfolio metrics — such as Value at Risk (VaR), exposure, and leverage — ensuring operations stay within predefined limits. Additionally, the system has built-in stop-loss thresholds that can trigger automatic position closures when losses exceed certain levels.
Technical Risks
Spectra Vault operates on the stack of smart contracts and infrastructure provided by Hyperliquid, and this brings with it some inherent technical risks. The possibility of vulnerabilities—whether in the protocol itself or in its logic—could lead to a hack or bug that results in the loss of user funds. While the exchange has conducted several audits of the code, no system is entirely immune to potential exploits.
Additionally, the platform’s infrastructure is essentially managed by the developers, making it highly centralized. While there haven’t been any network disruptions yet, the ability for the team to make unilateral decisions presents a risk in terms of both the platform’s reliability and overall governance.
Another concern involves the use of Spectra’s own wallet for executing trades and storing keys, managed by the provider Turnkey. Should any issues arise with Turnkey’s system, it could create complications, leaving the algorithms struggling to confirm transactions and potentially impacting trade execution.
Market Risks
By investing in Spectra Vault, users are essentially entrusting their capital to an algorithmic strategy that could either double their funds or lead to a loss—profit is never guaranteed.
Moreover, because the fund trades with leverage, there is the theoretical risk of losing part of the deposit in the event of extremely unfavorable market conditions. Hyperliquid advises users that all vault strategies come with inherent risks, and it is crucial to assess the effectiveness and transparency of trades before making an investment decision.
РRegulatory Aspects
From a legal standpoint, the concept of an “autonomous hedge fund” lacks clear regulation in any jurisdiction:
- on one hand, there is no traditional management company—no legal entity or manager making decisions;
- on the other hand, it constitutes collective investment with the expectation of profit, which could potentially be classified as a form of investment fund.
This means that as the project develops, it could face additional challenges, such as the classification of SPEC as a security or the need to comply with KYC/AML standards.
While it is likely that Spectral Labs can be positioned as software, regulatory risks still loom due to the uncertainty regulators face regarding AI and digital assets.
Reputation and the Human Factor
While technically independent, the fund could still be influenced by reputational risks. For instance, if it were discovered that an external analyst-agent acted dishonestly, or if the team found itself at the center of a scandal, it could harm the trust in both the SPEC token and the fund’s TVL. This underscores the importance for users to stay updated on project news, developer activities, and audits.
Overall, Spectra Vault carries the standard DeFi risks (volatility, bugs, system failures), along with the unique challenges posed by AI usage. To mitigate these, the project team has implemented a multi-layered protection system—from deal consensus to a dedicated risk agent and strict position limits. However, given the early stage of the project and the incomplete data, investors should adhere to robust risk management practices when investing in the pool.
Conclusions
The launch of Spectra Vault by Spectral Labs on Hyperliquid marks a noteworthy event, showcasing the fusion of AI capabilities with DeFi. In essence, it is the first fully autonomous hedge fund operating on the blockchain, where anyone can invest and observe the decisions made by a “team” of algorithms in real-time.
This project may well pave the way for a new trend in DeFi, one centered around “autonomous finance.” If Spectra proves its effectiveness, we could witness the rise of AI-driven funds that can attract and reinvest capital without geographical restrictions, operating 24/7.
Of course, Spectra Vault still faces the challenge of navigating the unpredictable and volatile real-world market. However, even now, ordinary users have the opportunity to invest in the pool and share in the financial success of AI agents within the cryptocurrency industry.