Stripe is facing strong competition in its attempt to issue Hyperliquid’s new USDH stablecoin, as several crypto firms including MoonPay, Agora, Rain, Paxos, and Frax, rival proposals.
In a post on Discord last Friday, the Hyperliquid team said they want a “Hyperliquid-first, Hyperliquid-aligned, and compliant USD stablecoin” with the ticker USDH. Native Markets submitted the first plan, and suggested that Stripe’s stablecoin processor, Bridge, should issue USDH.
Their proposal said it would mint directly on Hyperliquid, and give part of the reserve profits to Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund.
Agora and MoonPay Push Back Against Stripe
Agora quickly responded with an alternative proposal. CEO Nick Van Eck said that Stripe should not issue USDH because it could create conflicts of interest.
“If Hyperliquid relinquishes its canonical stablecoin to Stripe, a vertically integrated issuer with clear conflicts, what are we all even doing?” he asked.
Van Eck also said Stripe’s Bridge does not have enough experience or tools to manage USDH, and warned that Stripe’s own Tempo blockchain project could take users away from Hyperliquid.
“How long until Stripe and Bridge start pushing users and perps from other financial applications directly to Tempo instead of Hyperliquid?” he added.
On Sunday, MoonPay joined Agora’s proposal. Keyth Grossman, MoonPay’s president, said their company would provide regulated payment rails to help launch USDH.
He criticized the Native Markets plan, saying: “USDH deserves scale, credibility and alignment — not BS capture. That is this coalition, not Stripe.” Rob Hadick, a partner at Dragonfly.xyz, supported the coalition and called it the “unarguable best” proposal for issuing USDH.
Other Competitors Join the Race
Meanwhile, Stablecoin issuer Paxos also entered the race with a proposal to launch USDH. The firm pledged to direct part of the interest earned from reserves to buy back Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token and distribute it to users, validators, and partner protocols.
Frax also submitted a plan, saying it would return all earnings from USDH, backed by its frxUSD stablecoin, back to the Hyperliquid community. “We’re proposing something no one else will match: give everything back to the community,” their proposal said.
Hyperliquid now relies mostly on Circle’s USDC for trading and liquidity. In August alone, Hyperliquid handled $398 billion in perpetual derivatives and $20 billion in spot trades. Most of this used USDC.
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