Ethena’s USDe Tops $8.4B, Outpacing BlackRock ETFs in Capital Inflows
Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, has surged by over $3.1 billion in just 20 days, pushing its circulating supply past $8.4 billion and outpacing recent inflows into BlackRock’s spot bitcoin and ether ETFs.
According to on-chain data compiled by the Ethena community, this latest growth streak — beginning July 17 — marks the fastest expansion for the stablecoin since its February 2024 launch. USDe’s rise during this period eclipses the $2.75 billion taken in by BlackRock’s ETHA and the $1.6 billion added to its IBIT fund.
The rally has also lifted Ethena’s governance token ENA, which more than doubled over the past month. However, the token has slipped 12% in the past 24 hours as markets await the long-anticipated activation of the fee switch that will allow revenue sharing with staked ENA holders.
Ethena has already cleared most prerequisites for revenue distribution, with only the final yield spread threshold left. That benchmark is expected to be met imminently.
A Reflexive Growth Engine
The rapid rise of USDe is driven by a self-reinforcing loop built into Ethena’s core mechanics. As bitcoin and ether prices climb, perpetual futures funding rates tend to turn positive. Ethena captures those yields through delta-neutral hedging strategies and pays them out to holders of sUSDe — the yield-bearing version of its stablecoin.
This yield attracts more users, resulting in greater USDe issuance, additional hedging activity, and increased protocol revenue — further accelerating adoption.
Over the past month, Ethena generated nearly $50 million in total fees and $10 million in revenue, making it the sixth-highest DeFi protocol by monthly fee revenue, according to DeFiLlama.
ENA is currently trading at $0.58.
