Circle invests in Hyperliquid…to introduce native USDC and consider validator participation

Stablecoin issuer Circle said it invested in Hyperliquid and will introduce native USDC.

On the 9th (local time), Cointelegraph reported that Circle became a stakeholder in the Hyperliquid ecosystem and acquired native token HYPE, and deployed USDC to Hyperliquid's smart contract layer, HyperEVM. Circle said on X (formerly Twitter), "this update is the first step to support USDC deposits on Hyperliquid's spot and perpetual futures exchange." A company spokesperson also described it as "executing the expansion roadmap announced last July."

Hyperliquid is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol specialized in derivatives trading; after launching its layer-1 network in 2024, it recorded cumulative trading volume of $330 billion as of July 2025, one year after the launch. The protocol held a competition in September to select partners for issuing its own stablecoin, with major firms participating including Paxos, Frax, Sky, Agora, Etena, OpenEden, BitGo, and Native Market.

Last Sunday Hyperliquid announced, following a validator community vote, that Native Market was selected as the new issuer of the stablecoin USDH. Validators are structured so that HYPE holders stake tokens to participate in blockchain security, transaction verification, and governance; the top 21 stakers by stake size are responsible for block proposals and validation. About 430 million HYPE are currently staked on the network, and major validators include Galaxy Digital, Flodex, and the Hyper Foundation.

Meanwhile, in 2025 decentralized finance has continued to grow thanks to real-world asset tokenization and the expansion of digital asset finance. According to DeFiLlama, as of Sept. 9 global protocol total value locked (TVL) was $158 billion, a 35% increase in nine months from $117 billion in December last year. Meme coin trading has also shown a resurgence, and on Sept. 8 PumpFun's daily trading volume exceeded $1 billion.