‘Hyperliquid-Aligned’ USDH Native Markets Stablecoin Goes Live as HYPE Falls

Hyperliquid’s highly anticipated USDH stablecoin has gone live, after the newly formed firm Native Markets won the ticker bid last week. Native Markets claimed that over $15 million worth of the stablecoin was pre-minted in the 24 hours before it went live on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Hyperliquid opened proposals to take over the USDH ticker on the network. As a result, a stream of crypto companies put their hats in the ring, including the likes of Paxos, Agora, and Ethena—the last of those with backing from BlackRock. However, it was Native Markets, a company formed just “months” prior to proposals opening, that won the bid.

“The next stage of Hyperliquid’s ascendance will be driven by native stablecoins,” Native Markets co-founder Max Fiege wrote on X. “We’re honored to be leading the charge with USDH and look forward to showing up for the ecosystem every single day.”

The primary condition for proposals was for the USDH ticker to be a “Hyperliquid-first” and “Hyperliquid-aligned” stablecoin. Native Markets is doing this by donating half of USDH revenues to Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund, a protocol-driven buy-back fund. 

The issuer’s proposal claimed the stablecoin is backed by a mixture of cash and “U.S. treasury equivalents” managed by Bridge—a platform acquired by payments giant Stripe in 2024—and will be compliant with regulations in the U.S. and Europe.

It is worth noting that the USDH ticker will not receive any “special privileges,” the Hyperliquid Foundation said. That didn’t stop crypto heavyweights from fighting over the ticker, presumably seeing it as a premium ticker for a U.S. dollar stablecoin on a rapidly growing network. 

Despite the big names bidding for the stablecoin, three days before the vote commenced, predictors on Myriad thought it was 96% likely that Native Markets would win.

(Disclosure: Myriad is a prediction market developed by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN.)

Some Hyperliquid community members and builders called foul play, suggesting that Native Markets were given a head start and that validators were only considering the new firm’s proposal. Native Markets did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

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USDH’s debut comes at an interesting time for Hyperliquid, as it faces its first significant rival since launch.

BNB Chain-based decentralized exchange Aster has seen its token skyrocket since launching last week, per CoinGecko, with the platform flipping Hyperliquid in revenue in the process. That said, according to DefiLlama, Hyperliquid remains ahead of Aster in weekly trading volume and revenue.

Both projects are decentralized exchanges specializing in perpetual futures trading. Hyperliquid has dominated the field, although it appears that Aster is here to rival one of crypto’s biggest projects.

Aster vs Hyperliquid: BNB Chain DEX Perps Volume Derails the HYPE Train

Aster has surged 19% over the past 24 hours to a price of $2.31 and a nearly $3.8 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko, making it the 49th largest coin by market cap.

Hyperliquid has fallen more than 6% on the day to $44.81, by comparison, although it remains well ahead with a $12.3 billion market cap and the 19th largest cryptocurrency. Even so, it’s down almost 19% on the week, making it one of the biggest losers in the top 100 coins by market cap.

Myriad users have turned bearish on HYPE’s prospects in recent days, however, with 73% of predictors expecting the token to fall to a price of $39 sooner than it can rise to a new high of $69. The odds flipped on Sunday amid Aster’s rise.