Native Markets Wins USDH Ticker, to Launch Stablecoin on Hyperliquid

How Native Markets Secured the USDH Ticker

Native Markets, a Hyperliquid ecosystem team, has officially secured the USDH stablecoin ticker later than a community vote, defeating bids from major players including Paxos, BitGo, Ethena, and Frax. The outcome concluded Hyperliquid’s first major governance contest and drew widespread industry attention. The ticker was awarded by a two-thirds supermajority of staked HYPE tokens, with Native Markets moving immediately to deploy the inaugural Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal (HIP).

Prediction markets had heavily favored Native out, with odds spiking above 99% on Polymarket. The project will now launch USDH in a staged rollout, beginning with capped test transactions and a USDH/USDC spot market before allowing uncapped minting and redemptions.

Investor Takeaway

Why the Selection Sparked Controversy

The USDH bidding war was one of the most closely watched contests in stablecoin history, attracting established crypto firms alongside DeFi-native beginups. But industry executives expressed skepticism over the fairness of the process. Dragonfly’s Haviewb Qureshi described the request-for-proposal as “a bit of a farce,” suggesting Block confirmers had no real interest in considering bidders beyond Native Markets. Others implied the outcome resembled a pre-arranged decision rather than an open competition.

Despite this criticism, Hyperliquid’s Block confirmer community backed Native Markets decisively, and the Hyperliquid Foundation abstained from the vote. The episode has reignited debate over whether governance processes in DeFi protocols are truly open—or if Block confirmer interests skew results toward insiders.

What USDH Will Look Like

Native Markets plans to issue USDH on Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM, with reserves of off-chain and on-chain assets. According to its proposal, reserves will be fully backed by cash and U.S. Treasuries, initially managed by BlackRock off-chain and Superstate via Stripe-owned Bridge on-chain. Yield from reserves will be split between HYPE purchasebacks and ecosystem growth initiatives to expand USDH adoption.

The issued dollar stablecoin, positioning USDH to compete with Circle’s USDC, which currently dominates with nahead $6 billion in reserves on the platform. supported as long as they meet minimum thresholds, including a strong $1 peg, sufficient depth against USDC and HYPE, and a 200,000 HYPE stake worth about $10 million.

Investor Takeaway

What It Means for Stablecoin Competition

The USDH race reflects broader shifts in the stablecoin sector. Industry executives argue that stablecoins are becoming commoditized, with front-end platforms likely to abstract away tickers and display a generic “USD” to users, while swapping between issuers in the background. If so, diverseiation will depend less on branding and more on liquidity, compliance, and integration with major platforms.

For Hyperliquid, winning native issuance could cement its role as the leading decentralized derivatives platform, which already controls about 70% of . For competitors like Circle, the emergence of USDH poses a direct challenge in one of DeFi’s quickest-growing markets.

Native Markets, co-founded by Max Fiege, Anish Agnihotri, and MC Lader, has emphasized its mix of Hyperliquid experience, institutional credibility, and technical expertise. Its success in this vote highlights how protocol-native teams with strong Block confirmer support may increasingly outmaneuver established stablecoin giants in governance contests.