About

Ethena Labs is a decentralized finance protocol developing a synthetic dollar protocol on Ethereum that issues USDe, a crypto-native stablecoin backed by delta-hedged Ethereum and Bitcoin collateral. USDe aims to maintain stability through derivatives-based hedging. Ethena also offers an “Internet Bond” that combines yield from staked assets and futures markets, providing decentralized, dollar-denominated rewards.

History

Ethena was founded by Guy Young and announced in July 2023, aiming to be a crypto-native “Internet Bond” that is censorship-resistant, scalable, and stable. USDe launched to the public on Feb. 19, 2024. The same day, Epoch 1 of Ethena’s Shard Campaign was launched. The Shard Campaign was set to conclude with an “airdrop” in the earlier of either (1) three months' time or (2) when USDe’s supply reached 1.00 billion.

One week after the Shard Campaign’s launch, Epoch 2 began, with USDe’s supply reaching 600.00 million shortly after. Additional integrations and shard multiplier changes continued to be made as USDe’s supply reached 800.00 million and 900.00 million. Ultimately, USDe reached a total token supply of 1.00 billion on March 13, 2024, though the project team later announced that the Shard Campaign would end on April 1, 2024.

The ENA governance token was launched one day later, on April 2, 2024.

Upon ENA’s launch, Ethena’s Sats Campaign began. The campaign is set to conclude in the earlier of either (1) five months’ time on Sept. 2nd, 2024, or (2) when USDe’s supply reaches 5.00 billion.

On April 4, 2024, Ethena officially onboarded BTC as a collateral asset for USDe. As of the same date, Ethena and its USDe token are fully functional, with live metrics related to collateral, perpetual swaps, staking, solvency, and yields being publicly available.

Additionally, Ethena planned to introduce a governance process allowing ENA token holders to vote on governance proposals.

By August 2025, Ethena’s synthetic stablecoin USDe became the third largest by supply, achieving $12.1B circulating supply. Institutional custody for USDe was opened via Coinbase Prime, boosting access and legitimacy.

In parallel, Mega Matrix Inc. announced Stablecoin Governance Tokens Treasury Reserve Strategy with ENA tokens as Primary Target under its digital asset treasury (“DAT”) strategy.

In September 2025, The MegaETH team has introduced MegaUSD (USDm), MegaETH's native stablecoin, built in collaboration with Ethena Labs.