Asia Morning Briefing: Native Markets Leads Early Voting for Hyperliquid’s USDH Stablecoin Contract

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Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas.

The first signs of how validators are leaning in Hyperliquid’s hotly contested stablecoin vote are in, and the Stripe-aligned Native Markets team has an early lead.

As of Thursday morning Hong Kong time, Native Markets has secured 30.8% of the delegated stake, led by heavyweight 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. Ethena has picked up 4.5%, while Agora, Frax, and Sky, despite splashy proposals, have yet to attract meaningful support, though many of the most prominent validators have yet to cast their virtual vote.

The bigger picture: more than half of stake, 57%, remains unassigned.

That block includes some of the most influential validators on Hyperliquid, such as Nansen x HypurrCollective (the single largest validator with over 18%) and Galaxy Digital. Where they ultimately land will decide whether Native Markets’ early momentum carries through to the September 14 deadline.

Native Markets is pitching a Hyperliquid-native stablecoin issued via Stripe’s Bridge infrastructure, promising yield-sharing to the Assistance Fund and HYPE buybacks.

But prominent voices, including Agora CEO Nick van Eck, warn that Stripe’s simultaneous push to launch its Tempo blockchain and its control of wallet provider Privy could create conflicts.

Despite those criticisms, some validators appear to view Stripe’s global payment rails as a compelling advantage.

What’s at stake is far more than just another token launch. Hyperliquid currently holds $5.5 billion in USDC deposits, around 7.5% of the stablecoin’s supply.

Replacing that with USDH would redirect hundreds of millions in annual Treasury yield. Paxos has pledged 95% of reserve earnings to HYPE buybacks, Frax promised 100% of yield directly to users, Agora offered 100% of net yield alongside institutional custodianship, and Sky (ex-MakerDAO) proposed 4.85% returns plus a $25 million “Hyperliquid Star” project to bootstrap DeFi on the chain.

Hyperliquid already commands nearly 80% of decentralized perpetuals trading. Whichever issuer wins the USDH contract won’t just be minting a stablecoin, they’ll be wiring themselves into the financial backbone of one of crypto’s fastest-growing exchanges.

Market Movement:

BTC: Currently trading at $114,053, up 2.6% in the past 24 hours and 2.1% over the past week, though still down 3.9% for the month. The move reflects a short-term rebound fueled by positive risk sentiment and steady demand, even as longer-term consolidation continues.

ETH: ETH is trading at $4,373.99, up 2%, as investors shrug off a mass-slashing event that penalized over 30 validators.

Gold: Gold held near $3,635 an ounce after Tuesday’s $3,674 peak as investors await U.S. inflation data that could shape Fed cuts, while ANZ raised its year-end gold target to $3,800 and sees a peak near $4,000 by June on strong investment demand and central-bank buying.

Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.23% and the Topix down 0.18%, after Wall Street hit record highs on Fed rate-cut hopes and upbeat inflation data.

S&P 500: The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to a record 6,532.04 Wednesday after an unexpected drop in wholesale prices bolstered hopes for a Fed rate cut next week.

Elsewhere in Crypto:

• Trump's CFTC Hopeful Quintenz Takes His Dispute With Tyler Winklevoss (Very) Public (CoinDesk)
• Polygon rolls out hard fork to address finality bug causing transaction delays (The Block)
• Activist investor Elliott Management says crypto is facing an ’inevitable collapse’ after its ‘perceived proximity to the White House’ inflated a bubble (Fortune)