The early stages of Hyperliquid’s contested USDH stablecoin vote show Stripe-aligned Native Markets taking the lead, even as parts of the community voice caution.

As of Thursday morning Hong Kong time, Native Markets holds 30.8% of the delegated stake, powered by major validators infinitefield.xyz (13.5%) and Alphaticks (5.2%). Paxos Labs, the New York–regulated issuer behind PayPal’s PYUSD, sits at 7.6% with backing from B-Harvest and HyBridge, while Ethena has captured 4.5%. Other prominent proposals—Agora, Frax, and Sky—have yet to gain traction, though many of the largest validators have yet to cast their votes.

Notably, 57% of the stake remains unassigned. This includes heavyweights such as Nansen x HypurrCollective (the single largest validator with over 18%) and Galaxy Digital, whose decisions will likely determine whether Native Markets’ early momentum endures through the September 14 deadline.

Native Markets is promoting a Hyperliquid-native stablecoin issued via Stripe’s Bridge infrastructure, offering yield-sharing for the Assistance Fund and HYPE buybacks. Critics, including Agora CEO Nick van Eck, caution that Stripe’s concurrent Tempo blockchain launch and control of the Privy wallet could present conflicts of interest. Yet some validators view Stripe’s global payment rails as a strategic advantage.

The stakes extend well beyond a single token launch. Hyperliquid holds $5.5 billion in USDC deposits—roughly 7.5% of the stablecoin’s supply. Transitioning to USDH could redirect hundreds of millions in annual Treasury yield. Competing issuers have outlined diverse plans:

• Paxos: 95% of reserve earnings to HYPE buybacks
• Frax: 100% of yield directly to users
• Agora: 100% net yield plus institutional custodianship
• Sky (ex-MakerDAO): 4.85% returns and a $25M “Hyperliquid Star” DeFi initiative

Hyperliquid dominates nearly 80% of decentralized perpetuals trading. The winning issuer won’t just mint a stablecoin—they’ll integrate into the core infrastructure of one of crypto’s fastest-growing exchanges.

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