Ethena USDe

USDe is a synthetic dollar issued by the Ethena protocol and intended to stay close in value to the US dollar. What sets it apart from classic stablecoins is that it is backed not by cash in a bank or Treasury bills but largely by crypto assets and the derivative positions that offset them. The token is issued on Ethereum; through cross-chain transfer infrastructure, it can also be used on networks such as Solana, Base and TON.

Minting and redeeming new USDe is open to authorized institutions that have passed identity verification; other users access the token through secondary markets. The collateral consists of assets such as staked ETH, BTC and liquid stablecoins and is held with custodians outside the exchanges. The price risk of the crypto collateral is offset with short perpetual futures positions opened on exchanges. When deposited into Ethena's staking contract, USDe turns into sUSDe, which accrues yield.

Situations that could strain USDe's dollar peg include funding rates turning negative for a long period, counterparty problems with derivatives exchanges or custodians, sudden waves of redemptions and smart contract risks; the protocol maintains a reserve fund for such situations. On Lzzo.com, the USDe price is taken from USDE/USDT trading on Binance and converted into dollars at Coinbase Exchange's USDT/USD rate; the chart shows the series obtained through this two-step conversion.