Ethena’s ENA Jumps 20% as USDe Inflows Surge Past $750M on Rising Crypto Yields

July 21, 2025 — Ethena’s governance token, ENA, soared over 20% on Sunday, hitting a four-month high above $0.50 as the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol attracted significant capital inflows amid strengthening crypto market momentum.

The spike in interest follows a sharp rise in funding rates across major cryptocurrencies, a trend fueling higher yields for Ethena’s users. The protocol, which issues the dollar-pegged USDe — a synthetic stablecoin — has seen more than $750 million in new inflows over the past several days, according to DeFiLlama. USDe’s total supply now stands at $6.09 billion, approaching its all-time high of $6.1 billion set in February.

Ethena’s model blends BTC, ETH, and SOL collateral with equivalent short perpetual futures positions on major exchanges. When perpetual funding rates are positive — as they’ve recently turned — the strategy earns income on the derivatives side. A portion of that revenue is passed through to users as yield. Currently, Ethena is offering nearly 10% in annualized returns, significantly outpacing traditional money market funds.

According to data from CoinGlass, crypto funding rates have climbed sharply after an extended period of flat activity, driven by renewed bullish sentiment across the market.

This yield-driven inflow has boosted both Ethena’s ecosystem and its native token. ENA, which functions as a governance token within the protocol, crossed the $0.50 mark for the first time since February, reflecting renewed investor confidence in the project’s economic model and positioning within DeFi.

As crypto funding rates continue to rise, protocols like Ethena — which monetize market structure through synthetic assets and yield distribution — appear well-positioned to benefit from the next phase of the bull cycle.