USDH is the first stablecoin to be issued following a validator governance vote on the platform. The token runs on the HyperEVM network and is fully integrated into Hyperliquid’s ecosystem.
Earlier in September, Native Markets won the governance contest to issue USDH, beating out bids from Paxos, Frax, Agora, and several other firms. The issuer stated that USDH is fully backed by cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries, with reserve transparency provided via oracles. A portion of reserve income will also be allocated to HYPE token buybacks.
Hyperliquid currently loses >$200m a year to firms who treat it as an afterthought at best.
— max.hl (@fiege_max) September 8, 2025
I'm co-founding Native Markets to reclaim this value leakage for the ecosystem and to kickstart Hyperliquid's next chapter. pic.twitter.com/oU6RYXE4E9
The launch comes at a time of rapid expansion in the stablecoin sector. According to CoinGecko, total market capitalization for stablecoins has surpassed $299 billion.
The Bidding War for Hyperliquid’s Stablecoin
The race to issue Hyperliquid’s first stablecoin began on September 5, when the project announced a governance process to award the USDH ticker.
Starting to feel like the USDH RFP was a bit of a farce.
— Haseeb ＞|＜ (@hosseeb) September 9, 2025
Hearing from multiple bidders that none of the validators are interested in considering anyone besides Native Markets. It's not even a serious discussion, as though there was a backroom deal already done.
Native Markets'… pic.twitter.com/qrc9xChv6z
Native Markets quickly entered with a proposal to issue USDH natively on HyperEVM and split reserve income between HYPE buybacks and ecosystem development. Within days, rival bids arrived from Paxos, Sky, Frax Finance, Agora, Curve, OpenEden, Bitgo, and Ethena. However, Ethena later withdrew and endorsed Native Markets.
The process sparked controversy. Dragonfly Capital’s managing partner Haseeb Qureshi argued the competition seemed designed to favor Native Markets, despite larger firms like Paxos, Ethena, and Agora submitting more extensive proposals. On September 9, Qureshi wrote on X that multiple bidders told him validators were unwilling to consider anyone other than Native Markets, adding that the startup’s immediate proposal after the RFP announcement suggested it had “advance notice.”
He further criticized Native Markets as a “brand new startup” with no track record to justify winning so quickly.
Despite these concerns, Native Markets secured victory on September 14, taking more than two-thirds of validator votes and clinching Hyperliquid’s first major governance decision.
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE has fallen around 7% over the past week, according to CoinGecko.
Adding to the pressure is rising competition from Aster, a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on BNB Chain. DefiLlama data showed that on Wednesday, Aster’s daily perpetual trading volume approached $30 billion—more than double Hyperliquid’s $10 billion at the same time.