Ethena’s artificial USDe greenback has emerged because the fastest-growing USD-pegged stablecoin over the previous 30 days after its market capitalization skyrocketed 73% to an all-time excessive of $4.77 billion.
The surge has propelled USDe to develop into the third-largest stablecoin, surpassing DAI’s $4.7 billion market cap. Nevertheless, USDe nonetheless lags behind Tether’s USDT at $135 billion and Circle’s USDC at $40 billion.
Ethena Labs co-founder and CEO Man Younger stated:
“We’re starting to now see the results as USDe blackholes each stablecoin in DeFi whereas warping lending markets to a brand new base fee Nevertheless it has develop into evident that DeFi is insufficiently sized in the mean time to shut the arb completely and bigger swimming pools of capital are required The following step for Ethena is plugging on to $100b-1tn+ asset managers who can present the capital required.”
In the meantime, the fast development mirrors the momentum seen earlier this 12 months when USDe’s market cap hit the $3 billion mark simply 4 months after its public launch in February.
What’s driving USDe’s development
Market observers identified that USDe’s surge displays robust dynamics fueled by bullish sentiment and demand for different yield-bearing belongings.
Not like USDT and USDC, that are broadly used for transactions, nearly all of USDe tokens are held to earn rewards. This means that customers primarily view USDe as a yield-generating asset quite than a medium of trade.
Certainly, USDe affords significantly engaging yields generated via Ethereum staking rewards hedged in opposition to quick funding charges for ETH. In response to Ethena’s web site, sUSDe holders can earn an annual share yield (APY) of 29%.
Notably, some critics have drawn parallels between Ethena’s mannequin and the ill-fated Terra-Luna mission. In Might 2022, Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin collapsed after its aggressive development technique turned unsustainable, resulting in a major downturn within the cryptocurrency market.
However, demand stays excessive, evidenced by the truth that its provide and borrow APR charges considerably outpace these of USDT and USDC on Aave.
Aave is the most important DeFi lending protocol within the crypto ecosystem, boasting a complete worth locked (TVL) of round $30 billion.
