Native Markets Wins USDH Stablecoin Ticker After Heated Vote
Native Markets has officially been awarded the ticker for USDH, the upcoming stablecoin on Hyperliquid, following one of the most closely watched governance processes in the crypto industry this year.
The decision came after a governance vote among Hyperliquid validators, with the newly formed firm edging out more established rivals. The outcome was heavily anticipated on prediction markets, which swung decisively toward Native Markets once Ethena withdrew from the race last week.
Governance Battle Ends in Native Markets’ Favor
Ethena, initially considered a frontrunner, announced its withdrawal on Thursday, citing validator and community concerns that its proposal—built on existing non-native infrastructure—did not meet the spirit of Hyperliquid’s competition.
Its exit sent prediction odds for Native Markets above 90% on Myriad, leaving only Paxos in contention. Despite Paxos revising its proposal midweek, it failed to gain traction.
While the win marks a major milestone, critics argued the compressed request-for-proposal (RFP) process favored Native Markets due to its close ties with Hyperliquid validators. Still, the broad consensus among participants cemented the decision.
Max Fiege, founder of Native Markets, laid out a phased rollout plan starting with a Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal. Initial minting and redemption will be capped at $800 per transaction to stress-test the system before opening the USDH/USDC order book and enabling uncapped activity for all users.
Backers and Infrastructure
Native Markets’ proposal highlighted its native alignment with the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The stablecoin will be backed by cash reserves and U.S. Treasuries managed off-chain by BlackRock, while tokenized reserves will be handled on-chain through Superstate in partnership with Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin infrastructure provider.
The project also pledged to split all reserve yield equally between Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund and ecosystem growth initiatives. Native Markets’ backers include operators and investors with track records at Uniswap Labs, Paradigm, and Polychain, alongside validator endorsements from firms such as CMI Trading.
Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, said the governance vote both “cements Hyperliquid as a fast-growing ecosystem†and reflects the “intensifying stablecoin competition.â€
Liu emphasized that while the win is significant, USDH faces an uphill battle against established stablecoins USDC and USDT, which dominate adoption and liquidity. “Transparency around reserves and strong, unified governance will be vital to win lasting trust,†he added.
Top stablecoins by market cap (Source: CoinMarketCap)
The rollout will be closely watched as a test of whether governance-led decision-making and tokenized reserves can meaningfully shift the balance of power in the stablecoin sector.
