Coinbase and Circle Both Stake HYPE in Hyperliquid Treasury Activation, Cementing Long-Term Commercial Alignment

Coinbase activated AQAv2 from two new addresses staking $502K HYPE each, while Circle separately staked $501K HYPE, deepening both companies’ commercial alignment with Hyperliquid as USDH sunsets.

Coinbase has activated AQAv2 (Assistance Quota Allocation v2) from two new addresses in Hyperliquid’s USDC treasury rollout, with one address staking approximately $502,000 in HYPE, according to a Coinbase announcement. Circle’s wallet has separately staked approximately $501,000 in HYPE, marking the most direct commercial alignment to date between the stablecoin issuer and the dominant decentralized perpetuals exchange.

The activation is the next step in the transition Coinbase first announced on May 14, when it became Hyperliquid’s official USDC treasury deployer as USDH sunsets. The May announcement made Coinbase responsible for managing Hyperliquid’s USDC reserves following the deprecation of the USDH stablecoin. Monday’s update operationalizes that arrangement by activating AQAv2 from two specific wallet addresses — 0x4E5319dEb1072B01439EE674db5C321d11fd96F8 and 0xc20699185c15D0a2fD65779BB5d69f5b0B113c00 — both of which have been bonded with staked HYPE to align with the platform’s protocol economics.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

Circle’s separate participation is the structurally significant element. USDC’s issuer staking HYPE alongside Coinbase positions both companies as long-term commercial counterparties of Hyperliquid, not merely as custody and stablecoin service providers. 

Hyperliquid’s growth has been a notable thread of 2026: the platform briefly overtook Solana on price last week, reached a record 6.63% share of global perpetual futures volume in May, and accumulated more than $100 million in spot ETF inflows in the first month of trading. Circle and Coinbase taking direct economic stakes in HYPE signals that both view that growth as durable.

The alignment also reflects how the USDC business model is evolving. As stablecoin issuers face increasing competition from bank-issued tokenized deposits, Circle’s strategic moves over the past quarter have included a partnership with Nium for global payout rails and expansion onto Hyperliquid as the protocol’s settlement asset. Staking HYPE directly is a more aggressive form of that alignment, embedding Circle within Hyperliquid’s protocol economics rather than just supplying the stablecoin layer.