Native Markets Secures USDH Stablecoin Issuance Rights on Hyperliquid After Competitive Bidding

Native Markets emerged victorious in a high-stakes governance contest to issue and manage Hyperliquid's USDH stablecoin, outbidding industry heavyweights like Paxos and BitGo. The week-long auction process concluded Sunday with Polymarkets assigning a 99% probability to Native Markets' win following Ethena's unexpected withdrawal.

The USDH stablecoin will be backed by U.S. Treasuries and cash reserves under the management of institutional giants BlackRock and Superstate. Native Markets plans a phased rollout beginning with capped transactions at $800 per operation before transitioning to uncapped mints, redeems, and spot trading.

Founder Max Fiege outlined technical implementation details via an X post, including plans for a Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal (HIP) and ERC-20 token bridge to Ethereum. The governance process has drawn criticism from some quarters, with detractors alleging bias and questioning whether stablecoins are evolving into commodities rather than currency instruments.