Maximilian "Max" Fiege is the co-founder of Native Markets. He is a prominent figure within the Hyperliquid blockchain ecosystem, where he has led the development of its native stablecoin, USDH, and advises public companies on their digital asset strategies. ^{[1] [2]}​

Fiege’s career includes experience in traditional finance, venture capital, and cryptocurrency-native projects. He has held roles at crypto-focused investment firms, contributed to the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and founded multiple ventures. His work primarily focuses on building financial infrastructure for specific blockchain ecosystems, bridging traditional capital markets with DeFi, and promoting protocol-owned value. ^{[3] [4]}​

Education

Fiege attended Georgetown University, graduating from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. ^{[5] [6]} Sources report varying details on his degree and graduation year, with Tdegrees mentioned including a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA); a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Government; a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) in International Political Economy; and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Finance and Management. ^{[2] [1] [4]} During his time at Georgetown, he was a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer team and wrote as a sports columnist for the university’s student newspaper, The Hoya. He was also a member of the Georgetown University Student Investment Fund (GUSIF). ^{[2] [6]}

Career

Fiege's career path shows a progression from traditional finance and consulting into venture capital and, ultimately, entrepreneurship within the cryptocurrency sector.

Early Career in Finance and Consulting

Fiege's early professional experience was in the traditional finance and consulting sectors, though specific company and role timelines vary across sources. One set of reports indicates he spent nearly seven years at the investment bank Nomura, starting as an Analyst in 2015 and rising to the position of Vice President in its Global Markets (Fixed Income) division before leaving in March 2022. This path includes a summer analyst internship at Deutsche Bank in 2014. ^[4]​

Other sources place his early career at Deloitte, where he reportedly worked as a Consultant and later a Senior Consultant in Strategy & Operations between 2018 and 2021. ^[6] This career path is associated with a summer analyst role at Goldman Sachs in 2020. Additional early career experience has been reported at public policy organizations such as the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). ^{[1] [3]}​

Transition to Digital Assets

Fiege transitioned fully into the digital asset industry in the early 2020s. He was the Head of Digital Assets at Signum Growth Capital, where he was involved in the launch of the Polkadot network. ^{[3] [6]} He also served as the Head of Growth for Liquity, a decentralized borrowing protocol, holding the role for a period in 2023. ^[6] Fiege has also been credited as a contributor to earlier DeFi protocols BarnBridge and FIAT DAO. ^[3]​

Venture Capital and Investing

Before co-founding Native Markets, Fiege worked as a crypto-focused investor at several venture capital firms. His self-reported experience includes roles as an Investor at ParaFi Capital from August 2021 to September 2022 and as a Principal at Pangaea from September 2022 to September 2024. ^[1] Other sources report investor roles at Republic from 2021 to 2022 and at Volt Capital from 2022 to 2024. ^[2]​

Fiege is also an active angel investor in the crypto space. His investments include Utopia, a payroll and expense management platform for DAOs, and Kinetiq, a liquid staking protocol built on Hyperliquid. ^[6]​

Native Markets

​Native Markets is Fiege's most prominent venture, focused on building financial infrastructure for the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

Founding and Mission

Fiege announced he was co-founding Native Markets on September 8, 2024. ^[1] The company's founding team includes Zothlem (Zoth) Liam, formerly of Binance; Anish Agnihotri, a blockchain researcher; and Mary-Catherine Lader, the former president of Uniswap Labs. ^{[2] [7]}​

Fiege stated the company's mission is to address value leakage from the Hyperliquid platform, which he estimated at over $200 million per year, by building native infrastructure that retains value within the ecosystem. ^[1] The project’s philosophy centers on on-chain market-making that recaptures value for the protocol itself, rather than allowing profits to be extracted by external third parties. ^[3]​

On the vision for the company, Fiege stated in July 2024:

"The stablecoin market is approaching a multi-trillion dollar TAM, but remains dominated by general-purpose assets that fail to meet the specific needs of hyper-growth ecosystems... With USDH, we're building a stablecoin that is deeply integrated within a single, high-growth environment, enabling it to become an integral part of that ecosystem's success." ^[2]

Ecosystem Commitment

On September 27, 2024, Native Markets staked and locked 200,000 HYPE tokens (Hyperliquid's native token) for three years. This action enabled USDH to become the first permissionless spot quote asset on Hyperliquid’s spot trading platform, HyperCore. ^[1] Fiege commented on the milestone:

"It’s unknown how much capital has been sidelined from Hyperliquid due to concerns over bridge risk, but I’m confident native quote assets like USDH will attract material net new inflows over time." ^[1]

To prevent potential confusion with a governance token, Fiege also announced on September 14, 2024, that Native Markets had acquired the "NATIVE" ticker on HyperCore, while clarifying, "We have no plans to issue a token." ^[1]​

Advisory Roles

Eyenovia and Hyperion DeFi

On June 18, 2025, Fiege was appointed as a Strategic Advisor for Digital Asset Treasury Strategy for Eyenovia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYEN), a publicly traded ophthalmic technology company. ^[9] Eyenovia's press release identified him as a "major Hyperliquid Thought Leader." His role involves advising the company on its strategy to build a corporate treasury with HYPE, the native token of the Hyperliquid protocol. His responsibilities include stakeholder education, ecosystem advocacy, treasury architecture advising, and risk oversight for the company's digital asset holdings. ^[9]​

Eyenovia later pivoted to become a Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) company, rebranding as Hyperion DeFi and trading under the ticker NASDAQ: HYPD. Fiege's appointment was seen as a signal of the company's entry into the Hyperliquid ecosystem. ^[4]​

Regarding the appointment and the token, Fiege stated:

"I believe HYPE is the best positioned digital asset for the future and that Eyenovia will effectively capture that value for shareholders.” ^[9]

Other Ventures

Sources report Fiege's involvement in several other ventures, both as a founder and in leadership roles.

• Merenti Capital: He is identified as a founder, director, managing partner, and principal of Merenti or Merenti Capital, a digital asset investment firm. ^{[6] [9]}
• Hyperion: In addition to the public company Hyperion DeFi, Fiege is also listed as a founder and advisor to a separate entity named "Hyperion," described as the "first US publicly listed Hyperliquid DeFi Company." ^[3]
• Other Projects: He has been reported as a co-founder of Hyperactive Capital, Felix Protocol, Silhouette, and USDhl. ^[3]