The Shift to USDC Integration
HYPE, the utility token of the decentralized exchange and layer 1 protocol Hyperliquid, surged to $46.93 on Friday, its highest point this year. The rally followed an announcement by Coinbase that it will commit to staking HYPE to activate AQAv2. HYPE’s sharp climb reversed a downward trend that had seen the token slide from around $44 on May 9 to just under $39 by May 14 morning.
Although it had retreated to $45.68 at the time of writing (4:40 a.m. EDT), it was still up by more than 17% in 24 hours. The climb also saw HYPE’s market cap rise to just over $10 million, shy of the $11 billion mark. In a statement on X explaining the Coinbase and Circle collaboration, Hyperliquid said Native Markets, which built the first network-integrated stablecoin for its protocol, has agreed to terms granting Coinbase the right to purchase the USDH brand assets. It added:
“With Coinbase, in its role as treasury deployer, sharing the vast majority of reserve yield revenue with the protocol, USDC will become the most aligned stablecoin on Hyperliquid. As a result, canonical outcome (HIP-4) markets will use USDC as the quote asset in a future network upgrade.”
Hyperliquid explained that part of the reason for the decision was feedback from users and builders suggesting that fragmentation was degrading the experience. It said that while the plan is to sunset USDH markets over time, they remain fully functional in the meantime. The stablecoin itself remains “fully backed, with feeless conversions to USDC and fiat available to users during this transition.”
Furthermore, the Hyper Foundation will provide grants to eligible HIP-3 deployers, HIP-1 deployers, and builders who have integrated USDH, while supporting teams through the migration over the next few months.
On social media, the reaction was largely positive. One user, Charlie.hl expressed acceptance of the outcome, describing the move as a strategic alignment that consolidates liquidity. While some other users hailed the shift as a major bullish milestone for Hyperliquid’s maturity, a few expressed surprise at the sudden pivot away from the native USDH asset.
