Description.
Ethena is a synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum that provides a crypto-native solution for money not reliant on traditional banking system infrastructure. Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, the protocol is led by Founder and CEO Guy Young, formerly of Cerberus Capital Management. Ethena's flagship product USDe achieves stability through delta-hedging Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other governance-approved spot assets using perpetual and deliverable futures contracts while holding liquid stables such as USDC and USDT. USDe has grown to become the fourth-largest dollar asset in crypto with over $5-6 billion in circulating supply, serving retail users through its staking product sUSDe and institutional clients through its white label stablecoin infrastructure. The protocol is deployed across 20+ blockchain networks and integrated with 100+ ecosystem partners including Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, Aave, and Curve.Â
Ethena has raised approximately $136.5 million across multiple funding rounds from leading institutional investors including Dragonfly Capital, Franklin Templeton, Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, F-Prime Capital (Fidelity), MEXC Ventures, and Arthur Hayes' Maelstrom. The $100 million strategic round completed in December 2024 drew participation from major traditional finance players, reportedly valuing the protocol at over $3 billion. Ethena offers a White Label Stablecoin Service enabling partners to launch branded stablecoins using institutional-grade reserve operations, with notable deployments including Jupiter's JupUSD on Solana, MegaETH's USDm, and Sui's suiUSDe. The protocol's technical infrastructure includes security audits by Zellic, Quantstamp, Spearbit, and Code4rena, with no critical or high vulnerabilities reported, while USDtb is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank in a GENIUS-compliant manner backed by BlackRock's BUIDL fund.
Key Infrastructure.
USDe (Synthetic Dollar)
USDe is a synthetic dollar achieved through delta-hedging Bitcoin, Ethereum and other spot assets using perpetual and deliverable futures contracts. It maintains peg stability through offsetting derivatives positions while holding liquid stables for efficiency and bear market protection. USDe is fully-backed and composable throughout CeFi and DeFi.
sUSDe (Staked USDe)
Staked USDe is the leading savings asset in DeFi, accumulating rewards periodically from protocol revenue. Users stake USDe to earn yield while maintaining liquidity and composability across DeFi protocols. The product has grown to over $5 billion in staked value.
USDtb
USDtb is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank and backed by fiat USD as well as BlackRock's BUIDL fund, managed in a GENIUS-compliant manner. It provides institutional-grade stablecoin infrastructure for compliant tokenization.
White Label Stablecoin Service
Ethena provides the infrastructure for launching and managing stablecoins. Partners design the product and control distribution while Ethena handles reserve operations, custody, and CeFi/DeFi distribution. Jupiter, MegaETH, and Sui have launched stablecoins using this service.
Ethena Network
The Ethena Network brings together protocols and applications built on Ethena, embedding the base rate into products that drive adoption and liquidity. Network partners include Based, Ethereal, Echelon, Strata, OnRe, Re, InfiniFi, Derive, and Neutrl.
Delta-Hedging Infrastructure
Ethena's core technology uses perpetual and deliverable futures to maintain delta neutrality against crypto collateral, generating yield through funding spreads while maintaining a stable peg. This innovative approach removes reliance on traditional banking infrastructure.
Additional Features.
Multi-Chain Deployment
USDe and sUSDe are deployed across 20+ blockchain networks including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Base, Blast, BNB Chain, and more.
CEX Integrations
Partnerships with Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Deribit, and 40+ exchanges for hedging, collateral, and liquidity.
Institutional Custodians
Anchorage, BitGo, Coinbase Custody, Fireblocks, Copper, and Ceffu provide secure custody for backing assets.
Proof of Reserves Attestors
Chainlink, Chaos Labs, HT Digital, and LlamaRisk provide independent proof of reserves verification.
DeFi Integrations
USDe/sUSDe integrated across 100+ DeFi protocols including Aave, Curve, Balancer, Morpho, Spark, and money markets.
Security Audits
Audits by Zellic, Quantstamp, Spearbit, and Code4rena with no critical or high vulnerabilities reported.
