Ethena’s USDe tokenized yield strategy has garnered over $2 billion in deposits, sparking both interest and scrutiny regarding the token’s associated risks.
The governance token of decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Ethena, ENA, experienced a significant surge on Tuesday following news of its integration with crypto exchange Bybit. Bybit’s decision to incorporate Ethena’s USDe “synthetic dollar” for various trading activities, including perpetual futures trading with leverage, and listing spot bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) trading pairs against the token, has expanded USDe’s utility.
ENA reached its highest price in two weeks, peaking at $0.96, before slightly retracing. According to CoinGecko data, it remained up more than 8% over the past 24 hours.
Joshua Lim, co-founder of derivatives dealer Arbelos, highlighted the significance of Bybit’s move, emphasizing that it further strengthens Ethena’s position as a bridge between centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). Lim noted that accepting USDe as collateral reduces risk for perpetual traders, as the token inherently carries a short position within itself, a development he described as “actually a huge deal.”
Ethena has emerged as one of the fastest-growing DeFi protocols this year, attracting significant deposits with its tokenized yield-generating investment offerings. However, this success has also invited scrutiny from market observers, wary of potential risks stemming from the crypto market’s turbulent history.
The USDe token, often dubbed a “synthetic dollar” rather than a stablecoin, represents a structured finance product wrapped in a token. It provides investors with steady yields by utilizing ETH liquid staking derivatives like Lido’s stETH as backing assets, paired with an equivalent value of short ETH perpetual futures positions on derivatives exchanges to maintain a stable $1 price. This approach, known as a “cash and carry” trade, leverages derivatives funding rates to generate yield.
Recently, Ethena expanded its backing assets to include BTC and introduced its governance token, ENA, further solidifying its presence in the DeFi space.
