Circle, the issuer of stablecoins, is making strides into Hyperliquid by investing in the platform and launching its native USD Coin on the protocol, amid rising competition in the stablecoin sector.
As announced on Tuesday, Circle has become a stakeholder in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, directly acquiring its native cryptocurrency, Hyperliquid (HYPE). The company is also contemplating becoming a validator for the protocol.
Circle, which went public on June 5, is the creator of the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, a digital asset that can be redeemed 1:1 for US dollars. This token will be natively launched on HyperEVM, Hyperliquid’s smart contract layer.
“This launch is the first step toward enabling USDC deposits into Hyperliquid’s spot and perpetuals exchange on HyperCore,” Circle stated on X.
Circle revealed its plans to enter the Hyperliquid ecosystem in July. “Today’s launch is simply delivering on that roadmap,” a spokesperson for the company mentioned to Cointelegraph.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized finance ecosystem focused on derivatives trading. Since its launch a year ago, the protocol has achieved $330 billion in trading volume.
In September, the protocol announced a competition to identify a partner for developing its own stablecoin, attracting bids from leading stablecoin issuers and crypto firms such as Paxos, Frax, Sky, Agora, Ethena, OpenEden, BitGo, and Native Markets.
This past Sunday, the protocol indicated that Native Markets had been selected by its validator community to issue Hyperliquid’s forthcoming native stablecoin, USDH.
Validators on Hyperliquid consist of HYPE holders who stake their tokens to secure the blockchain, validate transactions, and engage in governance. The top 21 holders by stake form the active validator set, responsible for proposing and confirming blocks within the network.
Currently, around 430 million HYPE tokens are staked across the network. Prominent validators include Galaxy Digital, Flowdex, and the Hyper Foundation, which supports Hyperliquid’s development.
Related: Inside the Hyperliquid stablecoin race: The companies vying for USDH
DeFi rises in 2025
In 2025, decentralized finance (DeFi) has continued to grow, driven by the tokenization of real-world assets and digital asset treasuries moving financial assets on-chain.
According to DefiLlama, the total value locked across all protocols has increased to $158 billion as of Tuesday, up from $117 billion in December, marking a 35% rise in roughly nine months.
Memecoin trading, once thought to be declining, has made a resurgence, with Pump.fun’s daily volume exceeding $1 billion on Monday.
Magazine: How Ethereum treasury companies could spark ‘DeFi Summer 2.0’
