Circle Beats USDH to the Punch with USDC Launch on HyperEVM

Circle, the issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin in DeFi, has stepped into the HyperEVM arena by launching native USDC on Hyperliquid’s Layer 1 blockchain.

Circle announced the integration on Sept. 16, less than a week after onchain analyst MLM noted that a Circle-linked wallet purchased $4.6 million worth of HYPE while testing USDC on the HyperEVM.

The move comes shortly after the controversial USDH stablecoin governance vote, which gave the Native Markets team the rights to acquire the USDH ticker with the goal of launching the Hyperliquid ecosystem’s dominant native stablecoin.

While it’s presumed that USDH is intended to be the primary stablecoin liquidity on the HyperEVM, Circle appears to be capitalizing on its first-mover position to capture market share prior to USDH’s launch, as most existing stablecoins on the network, such as feUSD or USDT0, are relatively illiquid.

Circle announced that its next activation in the ecosystem will enable direct connectivity between the HyperCore DEX and HyperEVM, letting users seamlessly bridge their perpetual and spot balances onto the EVM and vice versa.

“Working with teams and projects that are pushing the limits of what can be done onchain has been foundational to what we do…and what we’ve always tried to do is provide a great, safe, trusted, transparent, and most importantly, highly liquid digital dollar,” said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire on a recent podcast.

Following the activation, HYPE surged to another all-time high, reaching $59, or a $15 billion market capitalization, after falling as low as $9.5 in April amid the HLP vault exploit.

In addition to its domination of the perpetual derivatives sector, Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM is now the eighth largest blockchain in DeFi with $2.66 billion in total value locked (TVL).