Ethena’s USDe Outpaces BlackRock’s Bitcoin, Ether ETFs With $3.1B Inflow Surge
Ethena’s synthetic stablecoin, USDe, has experienced remarkable growth, surpassing $8.4 billion in supply. This represents a staggering $3.14 billion increase over just 20 days, significantly outpacing capital inflows into BlackRock’s prominent bitcoin (IBIT) and ether (ETHA) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On-chain data reveals this is the fastest growth period since USDe’s launch in February 2024.
The influx into USDe, a yield-bearing stablecoin, eclipses the $2.75 billion added to BlackRock’s ETHA and the $1.60 billion into IBIT during the same timeframe. This positions USDe as the leading capital attractor across both decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional markets recently.
This surge has positively impacted Ethena’s governance token, ENA, causing its price to more than double in the past month. While currently trading at $0.58, it experienced a 12% dip in the last 24 hours, potentially due to anticipation surrounding an upcoming fee switch activation. The protocol is nearing completion of the necessary thresholds to distribute revenue to staked ENA holders; only a favorable yield spread against competitors remains.
USDe’s growth is intrinsically linked to its design, as highlighted by Nansen’s research. Rising bitcoin and ether prices result in increasingly positive perpetual funding rates. Ethena leverages delta-neutral hedging strategies to capture these funding rates, distributing the yield to sUSDe holders. This higher yield attracts more users, fueling further USDe issuance, increased hedging, and consequently, more protocol revenue.
DeFiLlama data indicates Ethena generated nearly $50 million in fees and $10 million in revenue last month, securing its position as the sixth highest-performing protocol in terms of monthly fee revenue. The impressive growth trajectory of USDe and the positive performance of ENA illustrate the significant success of Ethena’s ecosystem and its innovative approach to stablecoin design.
