Hyperliquid Stablecoin Hammer: Why Did New Team Native Markets Secure USDH?

Recently, a highly anticipated stablecoin battle unfolded on the decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid. On September 5, the team announced the upcoming auction of the Ticker for the native stablecoin USDH, a decision that instantly ignited the market. Several institutions, including Paxos, Ethena, Frax, Agora, and Native Markets, submitted proposals to compete for the issuance rights of USDH. As a key player in the perp DEX hotbed, Hyperliquid has become a strategic opportunity that institutions must enter, even if they "don't make money." Currently, Native Markets is taking the lead with a 97% fracture advantage, almost securing victory.

Native Markets' Strategy

Native Markets' idea is to have BlackRock (off-chain) and Superstate (on-chain) jointly manage the USDH reserves to ensure compliance and maintain issuer neutrality. Its mechanism is unique: reserve interest is split in half—one half is used for the HYPE buyback through the Assistance Fund, and the other half is invested in ecosystem development, including the HIP-3 market and HyperEVM application.

Users can mint or redeem USDH through the Bridge and more fiat on-ramps will be opened in the future. The protocol's core component, CoreRouter, has been audited and open-sourced, encouraging direct community involvement in development. Native Markets has also committed that USDH will comply with the U.S. GENIUS regulatory standard and inherit the issuer Bridge's global compliance qualifications and fiat on-ramp capabilities. It is worth noting that Bridge was acquired by the payment giant Stripe last year, and Native plans to leverage its network for deep integration between stablecoins and fiat.

Although Native Markets is the least well-known among the current major bidders, it has become the most talked-about player due to the team's long-term dedication to the Hyperliquid chain and the recruitment of several industry heavyweights (from Paradigm, Uniswap, etc.).

Related Reading: "USDH Battle Begins, Everyone Envious of Stablecoin + Hyperliquid Concept"

Founding Team

Over the past year, Max has been deeply involved in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, driving nearly $25 billion in HyperEVM staking and $150 billion in HyperCore trading volume as an investor and advisor. He has previously led product and strategy at Liquity and Barnbridge, focusing on stablecoins and fixed-rate tools. Additionally, as a community leader at Hyperion, he spearheaded the establishment of the Hyperliquid DAT-listed company.

Mary-Catherine Lader previously served as President and COO of Uniswap Labs (2021–2025), advocated for BlackRock's foray into digital assets as early as 2015, and held Managing Director roles in investment banking technology at Goldman Sachs, and is now ready to steer the direction for USDH and Hyperliquid in the post-GENIUS era.

Anish is a blockchain researcher and software engineer with over a decade of experience. He was the first employee at Ritual, briefly served as the youngest researcher at Paradigm, and worked as a proprietary DeFi trader at Polychain. Furthermore, he has made long-term contributions and impacts in MEV and open-source DeFi tooling.

Community Controversy

Of course, there have been many questions about this community vote. Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at the well-known VC Dragonfly, wrote on Tuesday that he "is starting to feel a bit absurd about the USDH RFP" and claimed that validators seem unwilling to seriously consider any team outside of Native Markets.

He added that Native Markets' bid appeared almost immediately after the RFP was released, "which means they were pre-notified," while other bidders were busy preparing their proposals. He stated that although more established participants like Paxos, Ethena, and Agora put forth more compelling proposals, this process seemed "tailored for Native Markets."

However, Nansen CEO refuted this speculation in a post and stated that as one of the largest validators for Hyperliquid, they had dedicated significant effort, along with the team, to review the proposal, engage with bidding parties, with the goal of finding the optimal stablecoin solution. They ultimately chose to support Native Markets.

Upon realizing that the tide had turned, Ethena Labs announced their withdrawal from the USDH bidding process and stated that while some questioned the credibility of Native Markets, they believed that their success perfectly embodied the essence of Hyperliquid and its community: a fair playing field where emerging participants can win the support of the community and have a chance at fair success.

Crypto influencer remarked that the selection of Native Markets was inevitable, as the core listing pricing on the exchange platform met Hyperliquid's most obvious need that other teams couldn't fulfill.

On the Hyperliquid chain, the stability of the USD liquidity has long depended on external stablecoins such as USDC, with a circulating scale at one point reaching about $5.7 billion, accounting for 7.8% of the total USDC issuance. The Hyperliquid team's choice actually means that they are willing to directly transfer potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in interest income to the community each year.

It is precisely because of this that the issuance rights of USDH are not only about a significant market share but also about who can control the dominance of this substantial potential income. In the case of Hyperliquid, we see a stablecoin issuer willing to relinquish almost all income just to secure a distribution opportunity in the ecosystem—a scenario that was nearly unimaginable in the past. It can be foreseen that once USDH successfully launches and demonstrates a positive cycle logic of "returning income to the community, feeding back value to the ecosystem," other exchanges or public chains will undoubtedly rush to follow suit, triggering a significant transformation in the stablecoin strategy in the industry. At that time, the "Stablecoin 2.0 era" may truly begin.