Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) made a major move for the Hyperliquid (HYPE) ecosystem on Thursday, outlining how it plans to deepen support for Circle’s USDC stablecoin on the platform.
In a blog post, Coinbase said it is expanding its role by becoming the official treasury deployer of USDC on Hyperliquid, treating USDC as an Aligned Quote Asset (AQA), while the network’s USDH token is expected to be phased out gradually.
Coinbase Gains Rights To USDH
The Hyperliquid official X (formerly Twitter) account said the technical deployment responsibilities were described as falling to Circle, which will handle key infrastructure such as CCTP and native cross-chain tooling.
Both Coinbase and Circle also indicated that they will stake HYPE tokens as part of the process to turn on AQAv2. Beyond that, the transition includes an agreement involving Native Markets, which has agreed to grant Coinbase terms that give it the right to purchase the USDH brand assets.
A central part of Coinbase’s plan is the way reserve proceeds are expected to flow. In its role as treasury deployer, Coinbase said it will share the vast majority of reserve yield revenue with the Hyperliquid protocol.
In practical terms, Coinbase framed the change as a way to make USDC the most aligned stablecoin on Hyperliquid. It also said that, as part of a future network upgrade, canonical outcome (HIP-4) markets will use USDC as the quote asset.
Coinbase emphasized that the migration won’t be abrupt for current users. Over the coming months, it said people will continue to be able to redeem USDH for USDC or for fiat without fees through Native Markets’ USDH Dashboard.
In addition, Coinbase explained that the Hyper Foundation will distribute grants to eligible HIP-3 deployers, HIP-1 deployers, and builders who integrated USDH.
Hyperliquid Jumps To $44
Circle also addressed the announcement separately, confirming that USDC will become the primary collateral across all Hyperliquid markets, and that it plans to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens as it moves toward validator status on the network.
Coinbase also noted that it has invested in supporting builders on HyperEVM by backing stablecoin liquidity, and it framed its latest step as an extension of that strategy. Coinbase said it is “excited to further our support of the ecosystem and see USDC’s continued growth on Hyperliquid.”
Alongside the protocol news, prices reacted as well. HYPE, Hyperliquid’s native token, saw a notable increase after the successful vote on the CLARITY Act in the Senate Banking Committee—a development that cleared a hurdle that had kept the bill from reaching a full Senate vote and potential signature.
At the time of writing, HYPE traded at $44.50, reflecting a 14% gain over the past 24 hours. The move also placed Hyperliquid about 24% below all-time highs of $59, a level it reached during last year’s bull run.
Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
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