Power, Wealth, and Stablecoins: Hyperliquid’s USDH Drama Unveiled

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In the grand chessboard of digital finance-where men grow beards, women lose sleep, and coins strive to be “stable”-Ethena now marches upon the field with the bravado only seen in Tolstoy’s generals and dinner guests who arrive late. Yes, Ethena proposes to manage the sacred USDH, Hyperliquid’s native stablecoin, eager to outshine adversaries such as Sky, Frax, Agora, and the rest of those hapless soldiers in the stablecoin war. 🍷

  • Ethena intends to issue USDH-backed by formidable names: Anchorage and BlackRock’s BUIDL fund (not to be confused with your cousin’s rainy-day fund).
  • A promise is made: 95% of the spoils, known here as revenues, will rain down upon the Hyperliquid community via HYPE buybacks and incentives, unless, of course, someone loses the key. 🔑
  • With $75 million pledged to ecosystem growth, Ethena fortifies its position, guarded by a validator network, almost as vigilant as a Russian border patrol circa 1812.

Per Ethena’s (ENA) treatise dated September 9, the stablecoin shall rest upon the foundation of USDtb, a payment token expected from Anchorage Digital Bank on October 1, and further propped by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, whose “indirect collateralization” would confound both peasants and minor nobility alike.

There comes a familiar refrain-credibility, compliance, scalability-a trinity so beloved by the institutional class that one wonders if it appears embroidered upon their nightshirts. Ethena announces that it has minted and redeemed over $23 billion in tokenized dollar assets, and, miraculously, hasn’t “gone down.” This, dear reader, is considered an achievement.

Anchoring USDH to the Titans of Finance

As the plan unfolds, USDH would launch thoroughly fortified by USDtb, which, in this epic, is the only stablecoin BlackRock deems worthy of BUIDL’s embrace. Anchorage-often mistaken for a dreary Alaskan port yet here cast as the first OCC-chartered crypto bank in the U.S.-would issue and safeguard the treasures.

Naturally, public approval is paraded. Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock and not, regrettably, a Russian prince, exclaims that USDtb is “uniquely positioned.” Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley, with the solemnity of a minor character in “War and Peace,” assures us that Hyperliquid will receive “a sovereign stablecoin”-an odd phrase, though one doubts anyone knows what a non-sovereign stablecoin looks like. 🤔

Incentives, alignment! Ethena vows that at least 95% of net revenues shall flow back into Hyperliquid’s garden. Some will go to the Assistance Fund, others to HYPE token buybacks, and perhaps, in future governance votes, they’ll delight staked validators with yield-much as aristocrats distributed bread to peasants (and kept the caviar for themselves).

The Imposing Issue of Security-And Wealth 🌋

If security were a loaf of bread, Ethena would offer it sliced, buttered, and triple-checked by a committee. Their proposal warns of systemic risks-should stablecoin management falter, Hyperliquid’s perpetual markets could go the way of Napoleon’s march to Moscow. To avert disaster, governance will be entrusted to an elected guardian network of validators, perhaps including LayerZero (a name suggesting both infinite layers and infinite meetings). These guardians wield the power to freeze or reissue tokens; one imagines them savoring such leverage.

Not content with mere stability, Ethena pledges to rain $75 million in incentives upon Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 front-ends, along with supporting novel products like hUSDe, a Hyperliquid-native derivative. Yes, the word derivative will cause some to sigh, others to run screaming from the room. 😅

Ethena’s $13 billion USDe balance sheet stands ready, reputedly, to stabilize liquidity across Hyperliquid’s domain-akin to deploying the Imperial Guard at the market square. Ethena’s chest-thumping claim: they are the true partner to scale USDH to unfathomable supply.

Hyperliquid currently hosts a modest $5 billion in USD Coin (USDC), but whoever wins the contest to issue USDH may influence the exchange’s risk profile for generations-a rather Tolstoyan spectacle if ever there was one. Ethena, proud parent of USDe, the third-largest crypto dollar, presses its suit with words both bold and honeyed, casting itself as the stablecoin czar worthy of the people. The only thing missing, perhaps, is a duel at dawn. ⚔️

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2025-09-10 08:17