Why the War Over the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid Is Bullish for Crypto - Ep. 902

Stablecoins are supposed to be boring, but the fight for the USDH ticker on Hyperliquid has turned into one of the most dramatic battles in crypto. 

From Ethena suddenly pulling out, to Paxos revamping its bid, to whispers of favoritism, the contest has put protocol-native stablecoins in the spotlight. 

In this episode, MegaETH co-founder Shuyao Kong, who just announced their own stablecoin USDm, speaks about why they chose Ethena as a partner, and why alignment with Hyperliquid matters more than short-term incentives. 

She also explains why ecosystems need both yield-chasing and yield-agnostic stablecoins — and whether Circle and Tether could be pushed aside in the next wave of competition.

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Guest:

• Shuyao Kong, Co-founder of MegaETH

Links: 

• Unchained: 

• The Competition Is On. Who’ll Win the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid?

• Bits + Bips: Hyperliquid’s USDH Bidding War & Why the DAT Model Is Broken

• Ethena Joins Race to Issue Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Paxos Unveils USDH Proposal V2 With PayPal, Venmo Integrations 

• Sky Joins Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Stablecoin Issuers Enter Bidding War to Launch Hyperliquid’s USDH

• Ethena withdraws its proposal 

• The Block: MegaETH launches native USDm stablecoin with Ethena to subsidize sequencer fees

• Polymarket bet: Who will win the USDH ticker?

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🔥 3:02 Why Shuyao is so energized by the USDH ticker war

🔄 4:52 How the USDH drama reshaped MegaETH’s USDm launch

🤝 5:27 What convinced MegaETH to choose Ethena as its partner

🌐 11:20 What it really means to be aligned with an ecosystem

🚪 15:36 How Shuyao views Ethena’s sudden withdrawal from the contest

📣 18:22 Whether public governance decisions will keep gaining influence

🏗️ 20:16 Will protocol-native stablecoins be the winners of the next wave?

💵 21:22 Could Circle and Tether actually get pushed aside on Hyperliquid?

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