According to Coinbase's latest press release, Coinbase has been granted the right to become Hyperliquid's official treasury deployer for USDC as an aligned quote asset (AQA). As part of this transition, Native Markets, the operator of Hyperliquid's stablecoin USDH, has agreed to grant Coinbase the right to purchase USDH brand assets. This strategic move represents a significant shift in the stablecoin landscape within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, with Coinbase deepening its involvement to target expanding stablecoin infrastructure for onchain financial markets. The arrangement places Coinbase at the center of USDC's reserve management on Hyperliquid, with Circle handling the technical side through its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol. As the treasury deployer, Coinbase is expected to share the majority of the reserve yield revenue with the protocol, reinforcing USDC's position as the dominant stablecoin within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
According to Coinbase's announcement, USDH will sunset over time as USDC expands its role within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Coinbase stated that users will continue to be able to redeem USDH for USDC or fiat without fees via Native Markets' USDH Dashboard over the coming months. The company emphasized that USDC has seen rapid growth on Hyperliquid, with supply reaching approximately $5 billion, representing a 2x year-over-year increase. The AQAv2 framework ends fragmentation between USDC and USDH, redirecting reserve yield back to the Hyperliquid protocol for HYPE holders, making USDC the most aligned stablecoin on the platform. Hyperliquid revealed that a future network upgrade will transition canonical outcome markets under HIP-4 to using USDC as the quote asset, further consolidating USDC's position across the platform's trading venues.
According to The Block's data, Hyperliquid has quickly become the dominant onchain perpetual trading platform for crypto, backed by a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain. The platform leads the market share in terms of fees, capturing roughly 40% market share over Ethereum, Solana, Tron, and others. Since its debut in November 2024, Hyperliquid has established itself as a major player in on-chain crypto trading, particularly in perpetual futures markets. Its fee structure is primarily driven by perpetuals trading activity, where users pay to open, maintain, and close leveraged positions. The initiative supports long-term efforts to unify liquidity and improve efficiency across blockchain-based capital markets, with Hyperliquid describing the move as making USDC the most aligned stablecoin on the platform.
As reported by The Block, earlier this week, 21Shares launched the first-ever Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund offering exposure to its native cryptocurrency HYPE (HYPE), reflecting the market's recognition of Hyperliquid's dominant position in the onchain derivatives market. USDC has been the leading stablecoin on Hyperliquid since the platform launched in 2023, with Native Markets later introducing USDH through the AQA framework in 2025. Onchain markets operate 24/7 and require collateral that is always available, instantly transferable, and deeply liquid – USDC delivers exactly that. For traders using Hyperliquid, the practical result is a single stablecoin across all major markets, deeper liquidity in USDC-quoted pairs, and direct access to Coinbase's global fiat on and off-ramp infrastructure. Users will continue to have access to USDC through Coinbase's fiat on- and off-ramps and its wider global network.
According to Coinbase's announcement, Native Markets has assured users that USDH remains fully backed and maintained during this transition period. The company will work with HIP-3 and HIP-1 deployers to ensure the migration to USDC is complete before USDH is sunsetted. Hyperliquid is providing grants to eligible HIP-3 deployers, HIP-1 deployers, and builders who integrated USDH to cover migration costs, reflecting an ongoing commitment to teams who choose to build on Hyperliquid and align with the protocol. USDH markets remain fully operational during the transition, with Native Markets' USDH Dashboard giving users feeless conversion from USDH to USDC, along with fiat redemption options. The Hyper Foundation is providing these grants to support the migration process. In a separate announcement, Hyperliquid revealed that Circle will serve as the technical deployer overseeing Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) services and native cross-chain infrastructure, while both Circle and Coinbase have committed to staking HYPE tokens to support AQAv2 activation.
