Coinbase is making a major push to center Circle’s USDC within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
In a Thursday blog post, the exchange said it will become the official “treasury deployer” of USDC on Hyperliquid, reclassifying USDC as an Aligned Quote Asset (AQA) and beginning a phased wind-down of Hyperliquid’s native USDH token. The move is designed to make USDC the dominant quote asset across the network and to align reserve and liquidity management with a large, regulated stablecoin.
What’s changing
- Role split: Coinbase will act as treasury deployer; Circle will take on technical deployment responsibilities (including CCTP and native cross-chain tooling).
- AQAv2 activation: Both Coinbase and Circle will stake HYPE tokens to enable AQAv2; Circle confirmed it plans to stake 500,000 HYPE as it moves toward validator status.
- USDH phase-out: USDH will be phased out gradually. Native Markets has agreed to terms that give Coinbase the right to purchase USDH brand assets. Users can redeem USDH for USDC or fiat fee-free via Native Markets’ USDH Dashboard during the transition.
- Revenue sharing: Coinbase says it will share the vast majority of reserve yield revenue with the Hyperliquid protocol in its role as treasury deployer.
- Network upgrades: Under a future upgrade (canonical outcome, HIP-4), canonical outcome markets will use USDC as the quote asset. Separately, the Hyper Foundation will issue grants to eligible HIP-3 and HIP-1 deployers and builders who integrated USDH.
Why it matters
Coinbase frames the change as a continuity of its support for HyperEVM builders and stablecoin liquidity: “We’re excited to further our support of the ecosystem and see USDC’s continued growth on Hyperliquid,” the exchange said. For Hyperliquid users, the plan promises continuity of redemptions and an orderly transition to a USDC-centric model, plus ongoing support and grant funding for builders affected by the change.
Market reaction
The announcement coincided with a price jump in HYPE, Hyperliquid’s native token. HYPE traded around $44.50 at the time of writing, up roughly 14% over 24 hours — a move that followed a successful vote on the CLARITY Act in the Senate Banking Committee, which cleared a procedural hurdle for the bill. HYPE remains about 24% below its all-time high of $59 from last year’s rally.
Bottom line
The Coinbase–Circle arrangement signals a major institutional alignment behind USDC on Hyperliquid: Coinbase will manage treasury deployments and revenue sharing, Circle will supply the cross-chain infrastructure, and both will stake HYPE to support the network’s next phase. The transition is planned to be gradual and user-protective, with free redemptions and builder grants to ease the shift away from USDH.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
