Ethena
Summary
Ethena is a synthetic-dollar protocol launched on Ethereum in 2023, issuing USDe — a delta-neutral synthetic dollar backed by crypto spot collateral and offsetting short perpetual futures positions rather than fiat bank deposits. The protocol also issues a governance token (ENA) and a yield-bearing staked variant (sUSDe) marketed as an 'Internet Bond.' While it achieved a peak supply exceeding $14 billion in 2025, it has faced regulatory enforcement in Germany under MiCAR, a localized depeg event on Binance in October 2025, ongoing counterparty and negative-funding-rate risk critiques, and comparisons — contested by the founding team — to the failed Terra/UST model.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 7 more
Timeline(18 events)
2023-03-01
Arthur Hayes publishes 'Dust on Crust,' outlining the concept of a crypto-native synthetic dollar using perpetual swap hedging — the direct inspiration for Ethena.
Arthur Hayes / Medium2023-07-17
Ethena Labs raises $6 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital and Maelstrom (Arthur Hayes' family office).
CoinDesk2023-12-01
USDe stealth launch; protocol accumulates over $224 million in TVL before public announcement.
CoinDesk2024-02-16
Ethena raises $14 million strategic round at $300 million valuation; USDe opens to public access.
The Block2024-03-19
USDe supply crosses $1 billion, achieving the milestone faster than any prior stablecoin.
Business Wire2024-04-02
ENA governance token launches via airdrop and Binance Launchpool; trading begins on major exchanges.
CoinGecko2024-09-19
Ethena's website domain registrar is compromised; frontend altered. Protocol and funds unaffected.
CryptoBriefing2024-12-16
Ethena Labs launches USDtb, a stablecoin backed 90%+ by BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized money market fund, developed with Securitize.
CryptoPotato2024-12-01
Ethena Foundation completes $100 million private ENA token sale at ~$0.40/token; investors include Franklin Templeton, Polychain, Pantera, Dragonfly, and F-Prime.
The Block2025-02-21
Bybit exchange hacked for ~$1.5 billion. Ethena reports ~$30 million in open Bybit positions, closes them within 90 minutes with zero losses; reserve fund exceeds exposure.
CoinTelegraph2025-03-21
BaFin prohibits Ethena GmbH from publicly offering USDe in Germany/EU, citing serious MiCAR compliance deficiencies and reserve violations. Asset freeze ordered.
BaFin (Official)2025-04-04
BaFin imposes EUR 600,000 coercive fine on Ethena GmbH for non-compliance with March 21 supervisory measures.
BaFin (Official)2025-04-14
BaFin orders Ethena GmbH to wind up its authorized business after the company withdrew its MiCAR authorization application on April 3. Secondary market trading of USDe in the EU declared impermissible.
BaFin (Official)2025-07-01
Ethena Labs' General Counsel and attorneys from Morrison Cohen meet with SEC's Crypto Task Force to seek regulatory clarity on the 'synthetic dollar' classification of USDe.
CoinMarketCap AI Updates2025-07-01
USDe supply peaks above $14 billion following approximately 75% month-over-month growth in July 2025.
Mitrade2025-10-10
During a broad crypto deleveraging event, USDe price on Binance drops to $0.65. On other venues the deviation is 0.8–5%. Ethena processes over $2 billion in redemptions in 24 hours. Binance later compensates affected users ~$283 million.
CCN / AMBCryptoDecision Log
- hash: 6tBrThTmHLWe3jzbUkAnrW3GTr5QenZhWyhbni4efitR
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/31/2026, 1:59:02 PM
last updated: 5/31/2026, 1:59:09 PM
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