Coinbase is deepening its involvement with Hyperliquid, taking on an expanded role as the official treasury deployer of USDC on the network. The shift means USDC will now be treated as an Aligned Quote Asset (AQA) on Hyperliquid, and the platform’s native USDH token will be phased out gradually. Hyperliquid stands to roughly double the revenue split it earned under the USDH arrangement, along with added regulatory and institutional benefits from aligning with Coinbase and Circle.
Why the change
USDC is already the dominant stablecoin in Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets, which have driven much of the platform’s visibility over the past six months. By moving fully to USDC, Hyperliquid trades a proprietary token for a widely used, regulated alternative. The new deal gives Hyperliquid a bigger cut of transaction revenue than it saw with USDH, though neither company disclosed exact figures. The arrangement also ties Hyperliquid more closely to Circle’s compliance framework, a selling point for institutional users who have been wary of less regulated stablecoins.
Stablecoin market share barely budges
Despite USDC’s rising transaction volume, the overall stablecoin supply picture has shifted little. As of April 2025, Tether’s USDT held 67% of stablecoin supply while USDC held 27.6%. A year later, USDT stood at 67.3% and USDC at 28.1% — a marginal gain for USDC. The token remains strongest in the United States, but outside the country USDT is still the default dollar stablecoin for saving, investing, and trading. The Hyperliquid deal is unlikely to change that dynamic on its own, but it strengthens USDC’s position in the onchain derivatives niche.
Hyperliquid’s slice of the market
Hyperliquid has carved out a notable share of the onchain perpetuals market. It holds 30% of onchain perpetual market share and 46% of onchain open interest. In volume terms, it operates at roughly 50% of Bybit’s level, 30% of OKX’s, 79% of Coinbase International’s, and 13% of Binance’s. Those numbers make Hyperliquid a meaningful player in decentralized derivatives, and the USDC integration could help it attract more institutional liquidity as it sheds its own token.
What happens next
The phase-out of USDH will be gradual, and Hyperliquid has not set a firm deadline for its removal. The platform’s HIP-3 markets will continue relying on USDC in the interim. For Coinbase, the expanded role positions its treasury operations more centrally in the Hyperliquid ecosystem — a bet that the network’s growth will keep USDC flowing through its order books. How USDH holders will transition their tokens, and whether any residual liquidity concerns emerge during the switch, remain open questions.
