Early numbers are in for Hyperliquid’s stablecoin vote, and it looks like the Stripe-aligned Native Markets team has jumped out to an early lead. But with more than half the stake still unassigned, it’s far from decided.
As of Thursday morning Hong Kong time, Native Markets had secured about 30.8% of the delegated stake. That’s largely thanks to backing from heavyweight validators like infinitefield.xyz and Alphaticks. Not a small feat, but there’s a long way to go.
Where the Other Players Stand
Paxos Labs, the regulated issuer behind PayPal’s PYUSD, is sitting at 7.6% with support from B-Harvest and HyBridge. Ethena has picked up 4.5%. Meanwhile, proposals from Agora, Frax, and Sky—despite being pretty splashy—haven’t yet attracted much meaningful support. A lot of the bigger validators still haven’t cast their votes, so things could shift.
The real story might be the 57% of stake that’s still unassigned. That block includes some of the most influential validators on the network, like Nansen x HypurrCollective—the single largest validator—and Galaxy Digital. Where they land will pretty much decide everything by the September 14th deadline.
More Than Just a Token
What’s being decided here is bigger than just another stablecoin. Hyperliquid currently holds $5.5 billion in USDC deposits. That’s about 7.5% of the entire supply of that stablecoin. Replacing that with a native USDH would redirect hundreds of millions in annual Treasury yield back into the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
Each team is pitching something different to attract voters. Paxos is pledging 95% of reserve earnings for HYPE buybacks. Frax is promising 100% of the yield directly to users. Agora is offering full net yield plus institutional custodianship. And Sky, led by an ex-MakerDAO member, is proposing 4.85% returns plus a $25 million project to bootstrap DeFi on the chain.
Native Markets is banking on Stripe’s global payment infrastructure, pitching yield-sharing and buybacks. But it’s not without controversy. Some, like Agora CEO Nick van Eck, have raised concerns about potential conflicts because Stripe is also pushing its own Tempo blockchain and controls wallet provider Privy.
Market Snapshot
Bitcoin is trading around $114,053, up 2.6% over the past day. It’s still down for the month, but showing some short-term rebound. ETH is up 2% to $4,373, even after a slashing event penalized over 30 validators.
Over in traditional markets, gold is holding near $3,635 an ounce as investors wait on U.S. inflation data. The Nikkei 225 was up slightly Thursday, while the S&P 500 hit another record high after wholesale prices dropped unexpectedly.
Whoever wins this vote isn’t just launching a token. They’re wiring themselves into the core of one of crypto’s fastest-growing exchanges. Hyperliquid already commands nearly 80% of decentralized perpetuals trading. So the stakes, you could say, are real.
