Ethena’s USDe Stablecoin Sees Explosive Growth, Surpasses BlackRock’s ETF Inflows

Ethena’s synthetic stablecoin, USDe, has added over $3.1 billion in supply in just 20 days, bringing its total circulation to $8.4 billion and outpacing combined inflows into BlackRock’s flagship bitcoin and ether ETFs, IBIT and ETHA.

According to on-chain data compiled by Ethena’s community, the surge — beginning July 17 — marks the protocol’s fastest growth phase since launching in February 2024. The $3.14 billion increase exceeds the $2.75 billion added to ETHA and $1.60 billion to IBIT during the same period, highlighting USDe as the leading capital magnet across both DeFi and traditional financial markets.

The growth in USDe supply has been accompanied by renewed momentum in Ethena’s governance token, ENA, which doubled over the past month before pulling back 12% in the past 24 hours amid anticipation for the long-awaited activation of its protocol fee switch.

Ethena is approaching all necessary benchmarks to begin distributing revenue to staked ENA holders. The final trigger — a competitive yield spread versus alternative protocols — is expected to be achieved soon.

Reflexive Growth Model

According to a recent report from Nansen, USDe’s rapid expansion is driven by a reflexive feedback loop embedded in its design. As bitcoin and ether prices climb, perpetual funding rates turn increasingly positive. Ethena captures this funding through delta-neutral hedging strategies and channels the resulting yield to holders of sUSDe.

Higher yields then attract new users, increasing USDe issuance, which in turn enhances hedging volumes and overall protocol revenue.

Over the past month, Ethena has generated nearly $50 million in fees and $10 million in revenue, making it the sixth-highest DeFi protocol by fee income, according to DeFiLlama.

ENA is currently trading at $0.58.