Coinbase announced it is expanding support for USDC on Hyperliquid by becoming the official treasury deployer of USDC under Hyperliquid’s Aligned Quote Asset (AQA) framework.
The company said the move is intended to reinforce USDC’s role as the primary stablecoin across on-chain capital markets.
USDC Strengthens Its Position on Hyperliquid
In its latest press release, Coinbase explained that concentrating liquidity around USDC could improve market efficiency by enabling capital to move more freely across trading venues with fewer conversions. Users will continue to access USDC via Coinbase’s fiat on- and off-ramps and its broader global network.
The AQA framework was originally introduced by Native Markets as part of efforts to create a stablecoin infrastructure for Hyperliquid users. Under the new arrangement, Coinbase will assume the role of AQA deployer, and Native Markets has agreed to terms granting Coinbase the right to acquire the USDH brand assets.
The announcement stated that USDH markets will remain operational for the time being but will be phased out gradually. Coinbase emphasized that USDH remains fully backed and that users can convert USDH to USDC without fees or redeem for fiat during the transition period.
Native Markets will continue to handle those conversions and redemptions during the transition.
“Since launch, Hyperliquid has seen rapid growth and quickly became a predominant onchain trading network. Coinbase has invested in supporting builders on HyperEVM by supporting stablecoin liquidity. We’re excited to further our support of the ecosystem and see USDC’s continued growth on Hyperliquid.”
Next Phase
In a separate update, Hyperliquid revealed that Circle will act as the technical deployer responsible for Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) services and native cross-chain infrastructure. Both Circle and Coinbase have also committed to staking HYPE tokens to support the activation of AQAv2.
The announcement noted that, as treasury deployer, Coinbase is expected to share the majority of reserve yield revenue with the protocol. Hyperliquid also indicated a planned network upgrade that will transition canonical outcome markets under HIP-4 to using USDC as the quote asset.
Since its launch in November 2024, Hyperliquid has emerged as a significant on-chain trading venue, particularly in perpetual futures markets. The platform attracted additional institutional attention this week when 21Shares debuted the first ETF designed to provide exposure to Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE.