Circle responds to Hyperliquid’s stablecoin with investment, native USDC rollout

Stablecoin issuer Circle is expanding into Hyperliquid with an investment and the launch of native USD Coin on the protocol, as stablecoin competition on the network intensifies.

According to a Tuesday announcement, Circle is now a stakeholder in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, directly holding its native cryptocurrency Hyperliquid (HYPE). Circle is also considering becoming a validator for the protocol.

The company, which went public on June 5, is behind the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, a digital asset redeemable 1:1 for US dollars. The token will be natively deployed 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 said on X.

Source: Circle

Circle announced plans to expand into the Hyperliquid ecosystem in July. “Today’s launch is simply delivering on that roadmap,” a company spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

Hyperliquid is a decentralized finance ecosystem that specializes in derivatives trading. In July, the protocol hit $330 billion in trading volume nearly a year after launching its layer-1 network.

The protocol announced in September a competition to select a partner to develop its own stablecoin, drawing bids from major stablecoin issuers and crypto firms including Paxos, Frax, Sky, Agora, Ethena, OpenEden, BitGo and Native Markets.

On Sunday, the protocol said its validator community had chosen Native Markets to issue Hyperliquid’s upcoming native stablecoin, USDH.

Validators on Hyperliquid are HYPE holders who stake their tokens to help secure the blockchain, validate transactions and take part in governance. The top 21 by stake make up the active validator set, which is responsible for proposing and confirming blocks on the network.

Currently, about 430 million HYPE tokens are staked on the network. Top 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

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has continued to expand in 2025, with real-world asset tokenization and digital asset treasuries driving financial assets onchain.

According to DefiLlama, total value locked across all protocols has risen to $158 billion as of Tuesday, up from $117 billion in December, representing a rise of 35% in about nine months.

Memecoin trading, once left for dead, has seen a comeback with Pump.fun’s daily volume crossing $1 billion on Monday.

Magazine: How Ethereum treasury companies could spark ‘DeFi Summer 2.0’