What happened to USDH, and what an aligned quote asset is
Verified against Hyperliquid docs: Fees and USDH migration notice · by Hyperliquid Academy
The short version
USDH was Hyperliquid’s native stablecoin. It is no longer running.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| September 2025 | Validators voted, stake-weighted and on-chain, to award the USDH ticker to Native Markets |
| May 2026 | Coinbase named USDC treasury deployer under a revised aligned quote asset framework; USDH wind-down announced |
| 27 May 2026 | Native Markets began the structured wind-down |
| 20 June 2026 | Settlement of all USDH-denominated markets on HyperCore completed |
| July 2026 | Conversion support through the USDH dashboard ended |
If you are here because a guide told you to use USDH, that guide predates the wind-down.
Why the vote is the interesting part
Plenty of chains have a native stablecoin. Very few decided who issues it by putting it to a vote of the people securing the network.
The bidders included established stablecoin issuers. Native Markets won despite offering less revenue sharing than several competitors — which is worth sitting with, because it means the vote was not a simple auction to the highest bidder. Validators weighed something other than the headline number.
Agree with the outcome or not, that is governance doing something real rather than ratifying a decision made elsewhere. It is one of the few examples on any chain of a commercially significant choice being made this way.
What an aligned quote asset actually is
This is the live part, and the reason this page is not purely historical.
An aligned quote asset is one the fee schedule treats preferentially. Pairs quoted in it receive:
| Benefit | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lower taker fee | 20 % reduction |
| Better maker rebates | 50 % improvement |
| More volume credit toward your tier | 20 % bonus |
Those are published adjustments, not a promotion. The third one compounds: extra credit toward your volume tier lowers the rate on everything you trade afterwards.
Which is why the ticker was worth competing for
An aligned quote asset is not just a stablecoin that exists on the chain. It is the asset the fee schedule is bent in favour of, which shapes where liquidity forms across the whole venue.
That is what several issuers were bidding for in 2025, and why the framework being revised in 2026 was consequential enough to wind a stablecoin down over.
Stable pairs, which is a separate adjustment
Easy to conflate with the above, so worth separating.
A stable pair — a spot pair between two quote assets — receives a taker reduction of 80 %. Market-making a pair that barely moves is a different business from market-making a volatile one, and the schedule prices it accordingly.
That applies to the pair, regardless of alignment. The full schedule has both.
What to do if you think you still hold USDH
The conversion windows closed in mid-2026. There is no current claim process.
Everything settled on-chain, so the record of what happened to a given address is public and permanent. Check the address on an explorer rather than trusting any site that offers to help.
Wind-downs attract scams
A sunset announcement is a gift to phishing operations: it gives them a plausible reason to ask you to connect a wallet and “migrate” or “claim”. There is no migration site to connect to now, and there never was one that needed a signature granting token access.
What it means for trading today
Very little, day to day. Markets are quoted in USDC, the fee schedule works as published, and the aligned quote asset adjustments apply where they apply.
The episode is worth knowing about for two reasons. It explains why older guides mention a stablecoin you cannot find. And it is a concrete example of how much of this venue’s structure is decided by validator vote rather than by an operator.
Where to go next
The fee schedule, where the aligned quote asset adjustments live, and how validators and governance work — the mechanism that decided this in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
Is USDH still live?
No. Native Markets began a structured wind-down in May 2026 and settlement of all USDH-denominated markets on HyperCore completed on 20 June 2026. Conversion support through the USDH dashboard ended in July 2026.
What is an aligned quote asset?
A quote asset the exchange treats preferentially at the fee level. Pairs quoted in one get 20% lower taker fees, 50% better maker rebates and 20% more volume contribution toward your tier.
Who chose the USDH issuer?
Validators, by stake-weighted on-chain vote in September 2025. Native Markets won against bids from several established stablecoin issuers, despite offering less revenue sharing than some of them.
Why was it wound down?
The aligned quote asset framework was revised, and USDC took that role, with Coinbase named as treasury deployer. The mechanism USDH was created to fill was filled differently.
Do I need to do anything?
Not now. The conversion windows closed in mid-2026. If you believe you still hold a USDH position, the settlement was on-chain and the record is public, so check the address rather than a claim site.
Does the fee benefit still exist?
Yes, and it is the part worth reading. The aligned quote asset adjustments are in the published fee schedule and apply to pairs quoted in whatever asset holds that status.
Sources
- Hyperliquid docs: Feeshyperliquid.gitbook.io
- USDH migration noticeusdh.com
- Coinbase becomes Hyperliquid's USDC treasury deployer as USDH sunsetstheblock.co
We link the primary source for every number on this page. If a figure here disagrees with the Hyperliquid documentation, the documentation is right and we want to know.