Coinbase will become the official treasury deployer of USDC on Hyperliquid, the companies announced Thursday, ending the short run of USDH, the native stablecoin that validators selected over more established competitors less than a year ago.
Native Markets, the startup that won Hyperliquid's September governance vote to issue USDH, has agreed to sell its brand assets to Coinbase, the company announced.
USDH markets will sunset gradually. USDC, already the dominant stablecoin on the platform with roughly $5 billion in supply, will become the quote asset across Hyperliquid's HIP-1 through HIP-4 markets under an upgraded framework called AQAv2, Hyperliquid confirmed.
Circle will serve as technical deployer and has committed to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens. Coinbase announced it has also increased its staked HYPE position as part of the arrangement.
The reversal is notable for what came before it. In September, Hyperliquid validators ran an on-chain governance vote to select an issuer for a native stablecoin. The premise was that Hyperliquid held billions in USDC, and the yield on those reserves — estimated at $150 million to $220 million annually — flowed to Circle, not the protocol. A native stablecoin would redirect that yield back into the ecosystem through HYPE buybacks and the Assistance Fund.
