Coinbase and Circle's USDC Deal With Hyperliquid: What Analysts Say Changes
Coinbase will become the official treasury deployer of USDC on Hyperliquid, with USDC replacing the USDH token as the platform's quote asset. Compass Point analysts estimate the revenue-share arrangement could redirect about $160 million in annual revenue from Coinbase and Circle to Hyperliquid's ecosystem.
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The Deal Terms
Coinbase is expanding its role with Hyperliquid by becoming the official treasury deployer of USDC on the platform, according to reporting by Bitcoinist. Under the plan, Coinbase treats USDC as an Aligned Quote Asset (AQA), and Hyperliquid's own stablecoin, USDH, is expected to be phased out gradually.
Compass Point analysts, as cited by CoinDesk, estimate the revenue-share arrangement could shift roughly $160 million from Coinbase and Circle into Hyperliquid's ecosystem. Bankless, in its own analysis, describes the revenue split as roughly double what Hyperliquid earned under USDH. The two sources do not provide a shared baseline, so the $160 million figure and the 'double' comparison should be read as separate estimates rather than reconciled numbers.
Why Distribution Is the Focus
Bankless argues the deal matters less for its headline terms than for what it could do to USDC's market share. Citing stablecoin composition data, it says USDT held 67% of stablecoin supply in April 2025 and 67.3% a year later, while USDC moved from 27.6% to 28.1%. In this framing, USDC's transaction volume is accelerating but its supply share has barely moved.
Bankless places much of the blame on geography. It says USDC is strongest in the United States, where competition is concentrated, while USDT still functions as the default dollar for saving, investing and trading in many markets outside the US. Perpetual futures, which are quoted in stablecoins, are presented as the main arena where that default status gets reinforced.
Hyperliquid's Position in Perpetuals
Bankless cites several figures to argue Hyperliquid's perpetuals business is significant enough to matter for USDC. It says Hyperliquid holds 30% of onchain perp market share and 46% of onchain open interest. Its volume is described as about 50% of Bybit's, around 30% of OKX's, roughly 79% of Coinbase International's, and about 13% of Binance's. Bankless also notes USDC is predominantly used in Hyperliquid's HIP-3 markets, the segment that has driven much of the platform's visibility over roughly the past six months.
These are Bankless's figures and have not been independently verified in the materials provided. Hyperliquid remains considerably smaller than Binance overall, a point Bankless acknowledges.
Open Questions
The available reporting does not establish how quickly USDH will be retired, how the revenue split is structured in detail, or whether the deal will measurably change USDC's global supply share. The Compass Point estimate and the Bankless market-share claims are analyst projections, and neither has yet been tested against several quarters of actual results.
Why It Matters
For Traders
USDC's role as quote asset on Hyperliquid's perpetual markets could shift liquidity and funding dynamics, but the deal's economic effects are still projections rather than observed flows.
For Investors
The deal signals Circle is pursuing distribution through perpetuals to close a stablecoin share gap that has held roughly flat against Tether for a year.
For Builders
Teams building on Hyperliquid should review quote-asset assumptions and any dependencies on USDH before its planned phase-out.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
