Ethena

Ethena is a DeFi protocol built on Ethereum that issues USDe, a synthetic dollar pegged to $1 not through bank deposits but through crypto collateral and offsetting derivatives positions. USDe is crypto-native, scalable, and maintained by delta-hedging Bitcoin and Ethereum collateral with short perpetual futures positions. Think of it as a financial seesaw: when collateral rises in value, the short position loses an equivalent amount, keeping the total value stable regardless of market movement.

Ethena was founded by Guy Young and publicly announced in July 2023. USDe launched on February 19, 2024. Its growth was historic. USDe reached $10 billion in 500 days, becoming the fastest-growing stablecoin to hit that milestone. By mid-2025, total supply peaked around $15 billion before contracting to roughly $8 to 9 billion after market volatility.

The protocol’s primary purpose is to give DeFi users a dollar-denominated asset that earns real yield without relying on traditional banking infrastructure. Users who stake USDe receive sUSDe, a yield-bearing version of the asset. In 2024, sUSDe delivered an annualized yield of about 19%, making it an attractive dollar-denominated savings instrument. That yield comes from two sources: funding rates on derivatives positions maintaining USDe’s peg and staking rewards from liquid-staked ETH used as collateral. By 2024, Binance and Bybit added USDe as collateral for margin and futures trading.

Ethena has attracted institutional-grade backing across multiple funding rounds. In February 2024, Ethena Labs raised $14 million in a strategic round at a $300 million valuation, co-led by Dragonfly Capital and Maelstrom, the family office of BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes. In December 2024, Ethena Foundation raised $100 million via a private ENA token sale, with investors including Franklin Templeton, Polychain, Pantera, Dragonfly, and Fidelity’s venture capital arm F-Prime. The participation of Franklin Templeton and Fidelity’s venture arm signals that traditional finance is treating Ethena as serious financial infrastructure, not a speculative experiment.

Additional backers from earlier rounds include Binance Labs, Delphi Digital, and OKX Ventures, giving Ethena strong ties with the largest centralized exchanges. This network effect is a direct competitive advantage: exchange integration makes USDe collateral for hundreds of millions in futures trading, driving organic adoption.

ENA is Ethena’s native governance token, launched in April 2024. Ethena distributed 750 million ENA tokens, or 5% of total supply, to USDe holders in the launch airdrop. The total supply is 15 billion ENA tokens. The investor allocation is 25% of total supply, subject to a one-year cliff and linear monthly vesting over three years.

ENA serves three functions in the Ethena ecosystem. First, governance: ENA holders vote on risk parameters, collateral frameworks, and protocol upgrades. Second, staking: users stake ENA to earn rewards, with sENA as the liquid staking receipt usable across other DeFi applications. Third, ecosystem incentives: a large portion of ENA supply funds cross-chain initiatives, exchange partnerships, and future product launches including the Ethena chain targeting institutional access to USDe.

ENA trades on major centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and is accessible for standard purchases. For large token amounts, locked tokens, or SAFT notes, Acquire.Fi’s OTC and Secondaries Marketplace is the right venue.

You can buy Ethena tokens OTC on Acquire.Fi by engaging with existing sell listings in the marketplace, or you can submit a new Buy listing with your preferred valuation and token amount.

You can also sell Ethena tokens OTC if you hold a position and want to exit. Browse existing Buy listings to find a match, or submit a new Sell listing with your asking price and the amount you want to move.

From there, Acquire.Fi takes over the process. The team runs background checks, issues NDAs, and makes the introduction. You and your counterparty own due diligence and payment settlement, and Acquire.Fi stays involved on both sides to help close the deal.