Native Markets, a newly formed digital assets firm, has secured the rights to issue the USDH stablecoin ticker on the Hyperliquid exchange ecosystem following a validator governance vote that drew intense industry attention and criticism over fairness.
The decision capped a closely watched request‑for‑proposals process that pitted Native Markets against established issuers including Paxos, Ethena, Frax Finance, and BitGo.
How the vote unfolded
Validators approved Native Markets’ bid on Sunday after a week of campaigning. Prediction markets such as Polymarket had already priced the outcome at more than 90% odds by Saturday after rival Ethena withdrew, citing community skepticism that its Ethereum‑based infrastructure met the “native” requirement of the contest.
Native Markets has been awarded the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid.
— max.hl (@fiege_max) September 14, 2025
Thank you to all HYPE stakers and network validators for their time and effort in reviewing the proposals put forward.
Paxos, once seen as a contender, fell behind despite submitting a revised proposal midweek.
The governance body is now preparing to open with a controlled test. Native Markets will introduce the first Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal (HIP) for USDH, followed by a closed pilot phase allowing mints and redeems of up to $800 per transaction. After testing, the USDH/USDC order book will launch on Hyperliquid before unrestricted issuance and redemption become available.
Terms of the Native Markets proposal
Under its plan, USDH will be issued directly on Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM network. Reserves will be split between:
- Off‑chain assets managed by BlackRock (cash and U.S. Treasuries).
- On‑chain tokenized reserves issued through Superstate, using Bridge infrastructure developed by Stripe.
In addition, Native Markets pledged to direct reserve yield equally between Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund and ecosystem growth.
The company’s leadership team includes founder Max Feige, blockchain researcher Anish Agnihotri, and Mary‑Catherine Lader, former Uniswap Labs president and COO. Backers include stakeholders from Paradigm, Polychain, and other trading firms. Early validator endorsements from operator groups such as CMI Trading strengthened its position.
Criticism over fairness
Despite the decisive outcome, the process has drawn sharp commentary from industry figures.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at venture firm Dragonfly, said on X:
“Starting to feel like the USDH RFP was a bit of a farce. Hearing from multiple bidders that none of the validators are interested in considering anyone besides Native Markets … as though there was a backroom deal already done.”
Qureshi added that Native Markets appeared unusually prepared, submitting an application almost immediately after the tender opened, while other bidders took days to assemble proposals.
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of infrastructure provider Helius, commented that the contest illustrated how stablecoins have become commoditized, predicting that “future exchanges may abstract away tickers and simply display ‘USD’ pairs” while handling swaps internally between multiple stablecoins.
Market reaction
Vincent Liu, CIO of Kronos Research, said the outcome shows Hyperliquid “cementing itself as a fast‑growing ecosystem” but warned that USDH’s test will be breaking through USDC and USDT dominance. He emphasized that “transparency around reserves and strong, unified governance will be vital to win lasting trust.”
Native Markets’ Feige said following the vote:
“We have deep respect for all the teams that submitted proposals and look forward to seeing them bring their ideas for Hyperliquid to life.”
For now, USDH adoption depends on whether Hyperliquid users and liquidity providers embrace the new stablecoin once minting begins.
Competitive backdrop
According to DeFi Llama, stablecoins circulating on Hyperliquid currently total about $6.2 billion, of which 97% is USDC. Circle recently announced deployment of native USDC on HyperEVM, underscoring the competitive landscape Native Markets must navigate.
The governance vote also reflects rising stablecoin competition globally. Both the U.S. and EU established stablecoin regulatory regimes earlier in 2024, and issuers are racing to secure exchange integrations as adoption accelerates.
Outlook
Native Markets’ immediate challenge is to execute its rollout without disruption and build confidence that USDH can compete on liquidity, reserves, and stability.
Analysts note that while validator governance has given USDH a head start on Hyperliquid, its long‑term success will depend on clear reserve audits, transparent yields, and fair competition against entrenched rivals.
“The contest underscores that stablecoins remain central to crypto’s next adoption cycle,” said Liu of Kronos. “The winners will be those that can scale quickly while staying transparent.”
Oleksii Shumak
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