Quick breakdown
- Native Markets won the USDH ticker for Hyperliquid’s dollar stablecoin after a heated community vote.
- Critics allege the process was skewed toward Native Markets, sidelining larger stablecoin issuers.
- Industry leaders suggest stablecoins are becoming commoditized, with exchanges likely to streamline them under a single “USD” label in the future.
Native Markets has emerged as the winner of Hyperliquid’s stablecoin race, securing the USDH ticker in a controversial process that has sparked debate in the crypto industry.
Native markets wins first USDH proposal
Native Markets officially claimed the USDH ticker on Sunday after a decisive community vote, edging out competitors in what was one of the most closely watched battles in the stablecoin space. The team will now put forward Hyperliquid’s first-ever improvement proposal (HIP) for USDH and launch an ERC-20 version of the token on Ethereum in the coming days, according to founder Max Fiege.
We will be deploying both the USDH HIP-1 and corresponding ERC-20 within days.
We will then start with a testing phase for mints and redeems of up to $800/tx with an initial group, to be followed by the opening of the USDH/USDC spot order book as well as uncapped mints &…
— max.hl (@fiege_max) September 14, 2025
Fiege noted that an initial testing phase would cap mints and redeems at $800 per transaction for a closed group. This will later expand into a public USDH/USDC order book with unrestricted minting and redemption.
A battle that gripped the crypto community
The USDH contest became the subject of intense speculation across prediction platforms. Native Markets’ chances of winning surged to over 99% on Polymarket after competitor Ethena unexpectedly exited the race on Thursday.
However, the outcome triggered frustration among rival bidders and industry leaders, some of whom questioned whether the selection was transparent.
Allegations of favoritism and rigged process
Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi criticized the vote, calling the request-for-proposal (RFP) “a farce.” He claimed validators showed little interest in alternative bidders, implying the decision was predetermined in favor of Native Markets.
Others echoed concerns, arguing the process sidelined established stablecoin issuers and payment firms in favor of a lesser-known player.
The future of stablecoins: commoditized and abstracted
Beyond the controversy, the bidding war sparked wider reflection on the future of the stablecoin sector. Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz argued that the race revealed how stablecoins have become “commoditized.”
Mumtaz predicted that exchanges will eventually stop displaying multiple dollar-denominated stablecoins to end users. Instead, they will present a single “USD” ticker while managing conversions between various stablecoins behind the scenes.
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