Ethena's stablecoin USDe has captured $4.44B TVL and generates $363M in annual fees with major TradFi adoption, but ENA token remains 95% down from ATH due to cyclical yield dynamics and competition from Sky's USDS.
DeFi & Yields ·
Ethena's USDe stablecoin has grown to the sixth-largest stablecoin with $4.44B in total value locked and generates $363M in annualized fees, yet its native ENA token remains approximately 95% below its all-time high. The protocol has attracted substantial institutional adoption: Robinhood integrated USDe as primary collateral for its earn product, BlackRock embedded it into Aladdin (which oversees $20T+ in institutional assets), and Janus Henderson ($480B in assets under management) holds it in its treasury strategy. A regulated version called iUSDe has drawn lending from Anchorage, Maple Finance, and Coinbase Asset Management, with Kraken becoming the first US exchange to offer USDe rewards.
The disconnect between business strength and token performance stems partly from USDe's yield mechanics. The stablecoin's returns depend on perpetual futures funding rates—earning when funding is positive but contracting during downturns. TVL has fluctuated from approximately $14.8B to $4.8B, and the sUSDe yield has fallen from double digits to around 5.1%, making it less attractive as a defensive asset. Competition also pressures the market: Sky's USDS, the third-largest stablecoin with roughly $8B in market cap, offers Treasury and real-world asset-backed yield rather than funding-rate-driven returns.
The token overhang remains unresolved. With 62.6% of ENA's 15B supply already unlocked and another 706.25M tokens (4.73%) due to unlock within three months, selling pressure persists. The fee switch designed to direct protocol revenue to token holders met its activation conditions in September 2025 but has not yet gone live, leaving ENA holders without direct claims on the $363M in annual fees the protocol generates.