Hyperion DeFi unwinds $29M in HYPE deals after USDH sunset

Hyperion DeFi (NASDAQ: HYPD), the first U.S. publicly listed Hyperliquid treasury company, is winding down two of its largest $HYPE token deployment agreements in the wake of stablecoin $USDH's announced sunset, according to an 8-K filed after market close on Friday. Because nothing says "crypto-native" like racing to unwind positions before a stablecoin officially flatlines.

On Friday, the Dallas-based company agreed with Felix Foundation, a lending protocol on Hyperliquid, to wind down a $HYPE Asset Use Service (HAUS) agreement supporting Felix's HIP-3 perpetual futures markets. Hyperion will unstake the 500,000 $HYPE backing the deal on June 22, with all remaining payments and tokens returned by June 29.

Felix signaled on May 14, the same day Native Markets announced the $USDH sunset, that its $USDH-denominated HIP-3 markets would be discontinued following a future announcement, while leaving Felix Vanilla $USDH lending unchanged at that time. On Friday morning, hours before Hyperion's 8-K, Felix said it would deprecate $USDH vaults on Felix Vanilla on June 12. The protocol has not yet publicly disclosed a specific shutdown date for the HIP-3 $USDH markets backed by Hyperion's HAUS agreement. A fitting example of "details to follow" at a leisurely crypto pace.

Separately, Native Markets, the original developer behind Hyperliquid's bespoke $USDH stablecoin, terminated its Temporary Use Agreement with Hyperion effective June 18. The 300,000 $HYPE associated with that deal was returned on June 3.

Both deals were tied to $USDH infrastructure: the Felix agreement supported $USDH-denominated HIP-3 perpetual futures markets, while the Native Markets Temporary Use Agreement was tied to the stablecoin's underlying operations. Assets associated with the Felix arrangement were valued at approximately $18.3 million as of March 31, while those tied to the Native Markets arrangement were valued at approximately $10.4 million, Hyperion said in the filing.

The unwinds follow Native Markets' May 14 announcement that it would cease supporting $USDH and allow the brand assets to be purchased by Coinbase, which plans to deploy USDC as the "aligned quote asset" on Hyperliquid. A bold pivot that presumably sailed smoothly through a stablecoin-aligned rebrand.

Hyperion said it reviewed its $USDH exposure across both agreements before deciding to wind them down. "We intend to reposition the approximately 800,000 $HYPE tokens to strategies that we expect to be more profitable in the future," the company said in the filing, signed by CEO Hyunsu Jung.

Hyperion holds about 2 million $HYPE total per its latest disclosures, so the 800,000 $HYPE coming back represents roughly 40% of the firm's treasury. For a treasury company, that's not exactly trimming hedges.

The two deals were marquee pieces of what Hyperion calls its "triple-dip" yield strategy, in which the company stakes $HYPE, deploys the staked $HYPE into a HAUS agreement, and collects Hyperliquid ecosystem rewards. The company said in this year's Q1 earnings release that the strategy generated 3.1x the income of base staking yield in the first quarter. Triple-dip in name, triple-dip in the Q1 PowerPoint.

Hyperion shares closed at $2.99 on Friday, closer to its 52-week low of $2.11 than its 52-week high of $17.18. Jung purchased 8,000 shares in the open market on June 1 and June 2, before the filing. Either a strong vote of confidence or a tax-loss-harvesting setup, depending on the reader's priors.

The repositioning comes at an unusual moment for crypto treasury companies. Hyperliquid treasury firms are the only digital asset treasury segment still in unrealized profit, according to data from Artemis, with Hyperion sitting on roughly $35 million in paper gains on its $HYPE holdings. By contrast, bitcoin treasury Strategy is carrying roughly $12.8 billion in unrealized losses and ether treasury Bitmine $10.5 billion as the underlying assets trade sharply below historical highs. A reminder that, somewhere in crypto, someone is usually still in the green.

Hyperion DeFi and Felix Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Block.