Native Markets has secured the winning bid to issue USDH, the planned native regulatory-compliant stablecoin for the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. This move is a strategic step for Hyperliquid to minimize its dependence on external, bridged stablecoins like USDC. The competitive bidding process saw proposals from several major players in the stablecoin space, including Paxos, Frax, Ethena, and Agora. The victory of Native Markets, a relatively new entity, over these established giants underscores the intense competition for stablecoin integration on burgeoning DeFi platforms.

Native Markets, which was reportedly formed specifically to create a stablecoin for Hyperliquid, presented a proposal that involved a partnership with Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company owned by Stripe. The proposed USDH will be backed by Ethena's USDtb, which in turn is collateralized by BlackRock's BUIDL fund, a tokenized money market fund. Some community members raised concerns about potential "unfair advantages" for Native Markets during the bidding process, but the newcomer ultimately won the validator vote.

This development signals a broader trend of decentralized exchanges seeking to launch their own native stablecoins. By doing so, they can have more control over their ecosystem's core financial primitive, create new revenue streams, and enhance user experience. The high-stakes battle for the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid, a platform with rapidly growing trading volume, indicates that the war for stablecoin dominance is increasingly being fought on the grounds of individual DeFi protocols.