In December Ethena raised $25 million through a private sale of its ENA tokens. Major investment firms including Franklin Templeton and F-Prime Capital participated in the round.
F-Prime Capital, formerly known as Fidelity Biosciences, is affiliated with FMR Inc. the parent company of Fidelity Investments through Devonshire Investors. Other notable investors in the round included Pantera Capital Partners, Polychain Capital and Dragonfly Capital Partners all of which have a strong track record of backing innovative blockchain projects.
The funds will be directed to the development of a novel token specifically designed for traditional financial institutions. Ethena plans to leverage the capital investment to launch its own blockchain in order to expand infrastructure and advance its long-term ecosystem strategy.
Ethena Labs currently manage two primary digital assets. The first is the ENA governance token which has a total supply of 15 billion tokens with approximately 3.12 billion tokens currently in circulation. The second is USDe stablecoin which has witnessed substantial adoption, reaching a supply of $1.3 billion during the Ethena Shard Campaign.
The company recently introduced USDtb a new stablecoin which is backed by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and holds 90% of its reserves in the fund. USDtb is available across multiple blockchain networks including Ethereum, Base, Solana and Arbitrum. The token is designed to reinforce the stability of USDe, particularly during periods of volatility in the markets.
In response to the recent $1.4 billion hack on the Bybit exchange Ethena Labs stated that USDe remains fully collateralized with its exposure to the company believes that crypto assets are unusable due to security breaches. However, the company maintains their crypto assets in off-exchange custody to ensure additional protection against potential threats.
Ethena Plans to Launch iUSDe:
As part of its 2025 roadmap Ethena is preparing to launch iUSDe a specialized iteration of its sUSDe stablecoin. iUSDe was developed specifically to enhance adoption among traditional financial institutions. While similar to sUSDe, iUSD is also expected to incorporate additional features such as the wrapper contracts that enforce transfer restrictions making it particularly suited for fixed-income portfolios. The token is expected to offer an annual percentage yield of 20% for 2018.
By implementing transfer restrictions and forging partnerships with regulated investment managers, Ethena aims to establish a compliant gateway for traditional finance (TradFi) participants to access the lucrative yield opportunities available within its stablecoin ecosystem. This initiative represents a significant step in bridging the divide between conventional financial markets and the rapidly evolving crypto landscape.
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