USDC becoming Hyperliquid’s aligned quote asset is a clear rerating driver for HYPE, as AQAv2 expands the stablecoin reserve-yield sharing base from roughly $100M of USDH supply to around $5B of USDC supply. Assuming a 3.8% reserve yield, the stablecoin-driven buyback base increases from about $1.9M to roughly $170M, or around a 20% incremental uplift versus Hyperliquid’s 2025 earnings base. For HIP-3 deployers, the change removes USDH as a quote-asset differentiation wedge, forcing them to compete on markets, liquidity, frontend, distribution, incentives, and community instead. At the same time, this may expand addressable liquidity because traders no longer need to bridge into, convert to, or hold a less familiar stablecoin with thinner secondary liquidity.