Native Markets is the clear favorite to win the bid to issue Hyperliquid’s long-anticipated stablecoin, USDH, according to betting activity on prediction market platform Polymarket. Traders are giving the startup roughly 92% odds of securing the partnership, signaling strong confidence as the decision process heats up.
The odds mark a high point for Native Markets, co-founded by Hyperliquid ecosystem veteran Max Fiege. The company has already captured more than 30% of delegated stake, well ahead of Paxos—the next-largest contender at 7.6%. Voting commitments began arriving Thursday after the Hyperliquid team adjusted the governance process by removing its staked HYPE tokens from validator weighting. That move was designed to shift more control to community token holders.
Over the past week, the community engaged with teams’ proposals for the USDH ticker for a Hyperliquid-first, Hyperliquid-aligned, compliant, and natively minted USD stablecoin. While USDH is no more than a reserved ticker at the protocol level, it has come to represent a…
— Hyper Foundation (@HyperFND) September 11, 2025
Instead of casting its own vote, the Hyperliquid Foundation pledged to abstain by aligning with whichever team receives the most support from non-Foundation validators as of September 11. Final validator voting is set to begin Sunday, with the winner ultimately managing Hyperliquid’s $5.9 billion stablecoin reserves, which are currently anchored by Circle’s USDC.
A Competitive and Controversial Race
Hyperliquid, the world’s largest decentralized derivatives exchange, opened the process last week with a call for proposals to create a “Hyperliquid-first, Hyperliquid-aligned, and compliant” U.S. dollar stablecoin. Eight teams initially stepped forward, including established names such as Paxos, Frax, Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Agora, and BitGo. Ethena, another major contender, dropped out Thursday.
Some of the rival proposals included attractive terms: Paxos pledged MiCA and GENIUS Act compliance, deployment across HyperEVM and HyperCore, and a plan to use 95% of reserve yields for HYPE token buybacks. Agora, founded by Nick VanEck, offered to share 100% of net revenue with the Hyperliquid community.
Despite this, Native Markets has maintained momentum, thanks in part to its team, which includes former Uniswap Labs President MC Lader and blockchain researcher Anish Agnihotri. The firm’s plan also promises GENIUS compliance and contributions to Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund.
The process, however, has not been without controversy. Dragonfly co-founder Haseeb Qureshi criticized the competition as “a bit of a farce,” suggesting the outcome may have been predetermined in Native Markets’ favor. Others, including Lilian Aliaga of OAK Research, questioned how a newcomer like Native Markets managed to secure validator support so quickly.
With the latest voting updates, Native Markets' proposal is above 70% of the votes committed so far.
— Lilian (@LilianAliaga_) September 11, 2025
With all due respect, I just don’t see how they can turn USDH into a multi-billion stablecoin. And honestly, I don’t get how the vote is swinging so heavily their way.… pic.twitter.com/GhXLwf7nzh
Ethena Labs founder Guy Young countered that criticism, arguing the success of Native Markets reflects Hyperliquid’s ethos of giving emerging players a fair shot.
“It is a level playing field where emergent players can win the hearts of the community,” he said on X.
We've spent the past six days engaging with validators and members of the community, new and old, addressing questions and concerns they had about our vision and how we'll see it through.
— max.hl (@fiege_max) September 11, 2025
We know we're a new team and don't take the burden to prove ourselves lightly.
Responding to scrutiny, Fiege acknowledged the spotlight on his team: “We don’t take the burden to prove ourselves lightly.”
