Arthur Hayes, co‑founder of Maelstrom, purchased close to $1 million of Ethena’s ENA token over 48 hours as Hyperliquid validators prepare to vote on the USDH stablecoin ticker this Sunday.
On-chain tracking from Arkham Intelligence shows Hayes bought multiple tranches, including 578,956 ENA (~$473,000) on Wednesday and two earlier buys totaling roughly 672,800 ENA (~$521,000), bringing the total to about $995,000 in that window.
Why it matters: the vote will determine which issuer controls the USDH ticker inside the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Ethena — a contender backed by BlackRock ties — proposes using its USDtb token and BlackRock’s BUIDL fund to collateralize USDH, pledging to route 95% of USDH revenue to Hyperliquid and cover migration costs for markets moving off USDC.
Ethena’s bid has earned plaudits from analysts; FalconX research head David Lawant highlighted Ethena’s track record, noting more than $23 billion in cumulative mints and redemptions without reported downtime and a peer project, USDe, with a market cap north of $13 billion.
Still, some community members see Hayes’ purchases as personal positioning rather than a direct endorsement of Ethena’s USDH proposal. Kirby Ong of HypurrCollective cautioned that prediction-market sentiment may not translate to on‑chain votes and that the outcome will hinge on validator alignment and delegation from stakers.
Other notable contenders: Paxos (which revised its proposal and announced a Kraken listing offer), and Native Markets, currently favored by prediction markets with ~90% odds according to Myriad. Native Markets’ blueprint includes a Bridge/Stripe-issued USDH with reserves managed off‑chain and on‑chain, split yield, and a HyperEVM launch. Additional bidders include Sky (USDS), Frax, and Agora.
Risk note: token purchases and prediction markets are not guarantees of governance outcomes. Voters and stakers, not market bets alone, will decide the USDH path. This article is informational and not investment advice.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.