Ethena Pay debuts on Avalanche with 6% dollar savings rate
DeFi & Yields ·
Ethena has opened its new neobank app, Ethena Pay, built on Avalanche and offering a 6.0 percent yield on dollar savings alongside other banking-style features.
The app, described as a self-custodial money product, combines card spending with cashback, free instant cross-border transfers, and onramps for USD, GBP, EUR and local currencies, according to the announcement on X. It also supports multi-currency savings accounts in local foreign exchange and links fiat IBAN functionality directly to self-custodial stablecoin balances, plus a feature called Buy Now Pay Never that uses savings yield to offset everyday spending. The product is live now for download on iOS.
Avalanche was named the exclusive settlement layer for the entire Ethena Pay suite, with the chain's fast finality, low transaction costs and flexible infrastructure cited as the basis for handling transfers, payments and settlement at scale. The cryptopotato.com coverage frames the launch as an expansion of Ethena's broader ecosystem beyond its existing stablecoin business.
Access is being rolled out gradually rather than opened to everyone at once. An initial early access group of 400 users is being expanded weekly across supported regions as the app exits beta over the course of the month, per the wublockchain.xyz report. Users in regions not yet supported can join a waitlist and receive a 30 dollar sign-up bonus, with access promised once their region is added in the coming weeks.
The launch has drawn coverage from multiple outlets, though reported figures for cashback and yield vary: some accounts cite 5 percent card cashback matched with the 6 percent savings rate, while others reference different cashback levels, including mentions of 10 percent partnerships across 48 countries and an early-access rate of 4 percent. It remains unclear which figures reflect the final product terms versus promotional or regional variations. Also unresolved is the pace of the regional rollout beyond the initial 400-user cohort and when unsupported markets will gain full access.