Hyperliquid’s USDC Yield Program Gets $14.6 Million for HYPE Buybacks

Hyperliquid’s $USDC reserve-yield program has received its first payment of 14.58 million $USDC, providing a new source of funding for $HYPE buybacks beyond trading fees. The money remained in the protocol’s interest-collection address early Oct. 3 ET, awaiting transfer to its Assistance Fund.

A transaction recorded by Hyperliquid’s explorer shows 14,580,777.21 $USDC sent to the system interest address. Hypurrscan’s account record showed that balance still there, with only an earlier 2 $USDC transfer to the Assistance Fund. The large payment had therefore funded the collection stage, rather than completed $HYPE purchases.

For $HYPE holders, the change adds reserve income to a buyback mechanism previously funded by trading fees. Under Hyperliquid’s AQAv2 rules, stablecoin deployers share approximately 90% of cost-adjusted reserve yield on their Hyperliquid supply with the protocol. That makes the new funding dependent on eligible stablecoin balances and the applicable yield rate, rather than trading turnover.

Ecosystem data provider HL Eco identified the transfer as the first month’s AQAv2 payment, saying: “Funds are waiting to be transferred to the Assistance Fund to buy and effectively burn $HYPE.”

How the Yield Reaches $HYPE

The arrangement divides responsibility between Coinbase and Circle. Hyperliquid identifies Coinbase as the treasury deployer sharing reserve revenue, while Circle is the technical deployer responsible for minting, redemption and cross-chain infrastructure.

The $USDC backing HyperCore balances is held on HyperEVM in a 9:1 split between the treasury address and the technical deployer’s linked contract. The treasury address shares 100% of the AQA rate—a cost-adjusted onchain reference rate—with the protocol. Revenue accrues over 30-day intervals and is scheduled to reach the Assistance Fund eight days after each interval ends.

Annualizing the first 30-day payment gives approximately $177.4 million, or $486,000 a day, according to The Defiant’s calculation. That projection assumes subsequent intervals generate the same amount; changes in eligible balances or the applicable rate would change the proceeds.

At CoinGecko’s $HYPE price of $87.84 at 5:07 a.m. ET on Oct. 3, that annualized amount would buy about 2 million $HYPE, equivalent to roughly 0.9% of the reported 222.45 million circulating tokens, before fees or price impact. This is a constant-price illustration of potential purchasing power, not an executed burn.

The destination is the existing Assistance Fund, not a new token treasury. Hyperliquid’s fee documentation says the fund automatically converts trading fees into $HYPE as part of blockchain execution, and that $HYPE in the fund is burned, permanently removing it from circulating and total supply.