Over the past three days the community spotlight has been on the bid to claim the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid, a process that could shape how stablecoins compete inside the exchange’s ecosystem. USDH is currently reserved and will be released through an onchain validator vote designed to bring a Hyperliquid-first, compliant USD stablecoin into the market.

The vote will determine which team may purchase and deploy the ticker, using the same onchain mechanism Hyperliquid employs for delisting votes. Interested teams must submit proposals in the USDH Discord forum and include their deployment address. Winning approval in the vote does not bypass operational steps: the approved team still must participate in the spot deploy gas auction to finalize deployment.

Voting power is weighted by stake, so validator choices will determine the outcome. The governance timeline is tight and follows these key dates:

• Proposals due: Sept. 10 at 10:00 UTC
• Validators declare intent: Sept. 11 at 10:00 UTC
• Final onchain vote: Sept. 14 between 10:00–11:00 UTC

Note: the onchain vote and the spot deploy gas auction are distinct steps—the vote grants approval to purchase the ticker but does not directly complete deployment.

As of today, nine validators have publicly declared their intended votes: six backing Native Markets, two supporting Paxos, and one for Ethena. The remaining 10 validators—controlling roughly 58% of stake, or 86.76M HYPE—remain unassigned. Native Markets currently leads with 30.8% of the announced voting share, while Ethena and Paxos together represent 11.6%.

Hyperliquid plans to make spot quote assets permissionless, beginning with testnet. Formal staking and slashing requirements for that permissionless phase will be announced later. Importantly, the USDH ticker carries no special privileges and is expected to coexist alongside multiple stablecoins inside the Hyperliquid order book.

For Hyperliquid and HYPE token holders, the contest is notable for how major incumbent teams are willing to sacrifice substantial revenue percentages to secure distribution and market presence. The USDH vote is therefore both a governance milestone and a competitive battleground that will influence stablecoin liquidity, staking dynamics, and how DeFi-native exchanges integrate multiple fiat-pegged assets alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto markets.