Cocopark

Started as a degen. Stayed for the innovation.

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

Think of this as an evolving historical record of @ethena .

Markets move fast, information changes, and it’s always possible that I’ve missed something.

If you have corrections or additional context, please share them in the comments. I’ll review everything and update the thread whenever necessary.

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

That’s a fair question, and I understand the frustration.

In my view, the issue isn’t a lack of willingness from the Foundation. Over the past year they’ve continued to ship: buybacks, sENA, preparations for the fee switch, major integrations (Robinhood, BlackRock, Janus Henderson), and a stronger institutional strategy.

The bigger challenge is that ENA is highly cyclical.

Today, it’s facing several headwinds at the same time:
• Ongoing token unlocks.
• Lower funding rates, reducing sUSDe yields.
• Lower USDe supply than at the peak.
• A fee switch that only makes sense once USDe reaches sustainable scale again.

The Foundation can build the infrastructure and improve fundamentals, but it can’t control the market cycle.

So I think the real question isn’t whether they’re doing anything—they clearly are. It’s whether those actions are enough to outweigh the current macro environment. So far, the market says “not yet.”

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

One question keeps coming up:

“What gives $ENA value?”

Many people look for a single answer.

Governance?
Fee switch?
Buybacks?

I think that’s the wrong way to look at it.

The value of ENA doesn’t come from one utility.

It comes from the combination of them.

🧵👇

[chud.eth @chud_eth]

- Ethena products now become the clear choice for yield, whether you want to park your capital for a day or years, instant liquidity to enter/exit.
- frictionless looping on the new Morpho USDe markets at double digit APR for pretty vanilla exposure.

[Sherif @SherifDefi]

The number is impressive, but I think the bigger story for @ethena is distribution.

DeFi has spent years building increasingly sophisticated products.

Getting that infra in front of millions of users through platforms they already trust is what moves the needle for adoption.

[Ethena @ethena]

One week since the Robinhood Crypto Earn launch, Ethena represents >70% of the asset allocation from Robinhood user deposits.

[Origin Protocol @OriginProtocol]

ARM Vaults have processed $3+ billion in volume across $stETH and $eETH by connecting secondary market pricing to primary market redemptions.

The $sUSDe ARM applies the same logic to a stablecoin for the first time – with 30D trailing APY at 5.1%

Deep dive on the @ethena sUSDe ARM: https://t.co/sp88AVN1xO

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

This is why I don’t see ENA as:

• just a governance token
• just a fee switch token
• just a buyback token

I see it as a token where multiple mechanisms reinforce each other.

Governance secures the protocol.

USDe generates revenue.

The fee switch connects revenue to ENA.

Staking aligns long-term holders.

Buybacks recycle protocol value.

No single utility explains ENA.

The combination does.

Do you think one of these mechanisms matters more than the others, or is it the combination that creates $ENA’s long-term value?

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

Everything starts with $USDe.

No USDe growth…

→ No meaningful protocol revenue growth.
→ No strong case for fee sharing.
→ No sustainable buybacks.

As @tedchenCPC recently explained, ENA’s value becomes increasingly tied to USDe circulating supply.

More adoption → More revenue → Stronger value capture.

That’s the flywheel.

[Ethena @ethena]

We're pleased to announce that, having taken onboard user feedback, every onboarded Ethena mint user is now able to mint & redeem USDe with USDC for free.

Instant liquidity into and out of USDe at 0bps cost for whitelisted users is expected to result in less value leakage on secondary markets and increased ease of access for users.

Updated mint and redeem fees are detailed below and will be available on our public dashboards:

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

That’s what I find most interesting.

It feels like Ethena is intentionally prioritizing distribution before value capture.

The strategy seems to be:

* Expand USDe across DeFi, CeFi and institutional finance.
* Grow sustainable protocol revenue.
* Wait for USDe supply and sUSDe yields to reach the right scale.
* Then activate the fee switch when it can be durable rather than cyclical.

Many people focus on ENA’s current price, but the real metric may simply be USDe supply. If that keeps growing over the long term, the economics of ENA become much easier for the market to understand.

[Kate @mynameiskatekim]

Robinhood Chain이 출시 1주일 만에 TVL(총예치자산) 2억 달러를 돌파했습니다

Top 5 프로젝트
@Morpho: 7,700만 달러
@ethena: 5,900만 달러
@sparkdotfi: 1,900만 달러
@RobinhoodCrypto 주식 토큰: 1,500만 달러
@Uniswap: 1,300만 달러

[Ethena @ethena]

Access higher 7% rewards on the Coinbase High Yield Vault while its hot:

→ https://t.co/SKd5kzkYWq

[Strata @strata_markets]

The story of @ethena in 2026 is a story about what the broader stablecoin space is becoming.

Ethena's USDe launched as a wrapper around one trade: long spot, short the perp, harvest funding. sUSDe printed north of 20% at the peak. As funding normalized and the basis crowded, that yield settled toward ~4-4.5%, and Ethena did something most issuers can't: it adapted the entire backing underneath the dollar.

Roughly 90% of reserves have rotated out of pure basis into a diversified book. Institutional lending via @maplefinance. AAA CLO exposure through @centrifuge's JAAA and @Securitize's STAC. T-bills via BUIDL with @BlackRock. Distribution into @coinbase and @RobinhoodApp, curated by @SteakhouseFi on @Morpho. This is a serious institutional pivot, executed live, at multi-billion scale.

The result is a stronger, more resilient dollar, and a structurally different one. Ethena is no longer running a single trade. It is curating a portfolio of risk.

That shift is exactly why the structuring layer matters. When backing is one legible trade, its risk is one number everyone watches. When backing blends basis, lending, tokenized CLOs, and prime credit, the published APY becomes a composite. Right on average, wrong for whoever sits in the tail. A blended yield needs a mechanism to unbundle it.

That mechanism is tranching, and Strata was built for it.

Strata launched the first risk-tranching layer native to USDe — srUSDe and jrUSDe live since October 2025, incubated by Ethena. srUSDe is protected up to junior coverage with a floor tied to @aave lending rates; jrUSDe absorbs first loss and earns the premium the senior pays. One risk profile becomes two products, and the junior's clearing price becomes an observable, live price of that strategy's risk.

Since then the layer has generalized well beyond a single dollar. Integrated across @pendle_fi, listed as collateral on Aave, and composable across Morpho and @eulerfinance, and expanded onto new yield sources from @Neutrl to @saturn_credit.

Pendle split yield by time. Strata splits it by risk.

The same evolution reshaping Ethena, from single trade to managed credit book, is what makes a risk-pricing layer necessary. As onchain dollars become portfolios, the market that prices and transfers their risk stops being optional.

[Gate Launch @Gate_Launch]

Limited-Time USDE Flexible Term Live on Gate

✅ APR up to 3.75%
✅ Start with just 1.5 USDE
✅ Subscribe & redeem anytime, hourly interest payouts

Subscribe Now: https://t.co/qgF9v8bpR4

[Tom Wan @tomwanhh]

Robinhood Chain has already reached $200M TVL in 1 week after launch.

Top 5 Projects:
• @Morpho: $77M
• @ethena: $59M
• @sparkdotfi: $19M
• @RobinhoodCrypto Stock Tokens: $15M
• @Uniswap: $13M

Data by @EntropyAdvisors

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

ethena – 2026 Year in Review
A Year of Transition
After proving the robustness of its economic model through multiple major crises in 2025, 2026 represents a new chapter for ethena . The year is defined by a deep transformation of the protocol: diversification of $USDe’s backing, reduced dependence on derivatives markets, expansion of institutional partnerships, and progressive integration into traditional financial infrastructure.
The real theme of 2026 is no longer just $USDe’s growth, but Ethena’s rise as a financial infrastructure at the intersection of #DeFi and traditional finance.
February 2026
• Early February: ethena publishes an update on the Reserve Fund. The recommended buffer is evaluated between $17M and $23M, indicating no increase is deemed necessary despite recent volatility.
• February 10 – Consensus Hong Kong
Presentation of the public testnet for @RobinhoodApp Chain, a first step toward future $USDe integration into the Robinhood ecosystem.
• February 11
ethena joins the Enterprise @ethereum Alliance, alongside @0xPolygon Labs and Nethermind.
This membership marks growing recognition of the protocol among key players building enterprise ethereum infrastructure.
• February 27
$USDe supply stands at approximately $6.07 billion.
March 2026
• March 6
$USDe supply reaches $5.97 billion.
The backing ratio remains above 101.09%, confirming slight over-collateralization of the protocol.
• March 27
Activation of Dynamic $sUSDe Cooldown.
The fixed 7-day cooldown is replaced by a dynamic mechanism that can vary between 1, 3, 5, or 7 days, depending on $USDe’s backing composition.
This change improves liquidity management while maintaining the protocol’s stability guarantees.
April 2026 — The Strategic Turning Point
April likely represents the most important structural change since the launch of $USDe.
Backing Overhaul
• April 7-8
@ethena announces a major reorganization of its collateral.
The share of perpetual futures drops to just 11% of the backing.
The remainder is progressively diversified into:
• Institutional loans
• Tokenized assets (RWAs)
• Credit strategies
• Institutional asset management
Key partners include: @Anchorage , @maplefinance, and @coinbase Asset Management.
Why this evolution mattered
Since $USDe’s launch, the main criticism of ethena had been its heavy reliance on derivatives markets. This update significantly reduces that dependence and gradually shifts $USDe toward a hybrid model combining delta-neutral strategies, tokenized assets, and institutional finance.
Backing Evolution
• April 14
Proposal to integrate whitelabel stablecoins backed by $USDtb ( $jupUSD, $USDm, etc.) into $USDe’s backing.
• April 16
Proposal to add tokenized gold ( $PAXG and $XAUT) to the assets used in basis trade strategies.
These proposals pursue the same goal: increasing collateral diversification to further reduce risks tied to a single asset class.
April 18 — $rsETH Crisis
A vulnerability in KelpDAO’s LayerZero bridge allows the theft of approximately $292 million, representing nearly 116,500 $rsETH (about 18% of the token’s supply).
Important clarifications:
• This was not an ethena hack
• ethena had no exposure to $rsETH
• Backing remained above 101%
• $USDe peg was maintained
As a precaution, ethena temporarily suspends its @LayerZero_Core bridge and removes $rsETH from its vaults. In the following hours, @aave , @compoundfinance , Spark, and @0xfluid also suspend their $rsETH markets.
Why this episode mattered
Following the @StreamDefi incident in late 2025, this crisis was another demonstration of Ethena’s risk management. The protocol navigated an external ecosystem crisis without any solvency concerns or lasting impact on $USDe’s peg.
April 24
Creation of the DeFi United coalition, including:
@aave , @LidoFinance , @ether_fi , @Mantle_Official , and @ethena .
The goal is to limit systemic fallout from the $rsETH crisis and prevent bad debt in DeFi. ethena actively participates in the initiative.
End of April
Risk-off capital outflows bring $USDe supply down to approximately $3.90 billion.
Staking ratio sits around 44%.
APY near 3.5%.
Nevertheless, the protocol maintains an annualized revenue run-rate of approximately $234 million, showing that the supply decrease does not undermine its economic model.
May 2026 — Growth Resumes
ethena continues its multi-chain expansion.
Key gains include:
• @Plasma (+$440M)
• @megaeth ($300M in the first month)
• @BasedOneX (+$30M)
• May 16
Over $450 million flows into @solana in just four days.
By the end of the month:
• Whitelabel stablecoins exceed $500M in cumulative supply
• @JupiterExchange and @kamino host over $1 billion in related markets
$USDe supply recovers to $4.51 billion, a ~15.6% increase from the late-April low.
This rebound confirms that the outflows after the $rsETH crisis were driven more by general risk aversion than by any specific loss of confidence in ethena .
June 2026 — The Month of Institutionalization
June is probably the most institutional month in Ethena’s history.
• June 2: Launch of the $SuiUSDe SDK.
• June 3: @cbventures makes its first investment in $ENA and announces a partnership on savings products for over 100 million users.
$ENA rises approximately 20%.
Traditional Finance
Early June: @centrifuge is selected as strategic tokenization partner following a competitive bid.
The protocol also announces the integration of JAAA (@JHIAdvisors ’s AAA CLO strategy) into $USDe’s backing.
• June 9
@JHIAdvisors , an asset manager with nearly $480 billion AUM, invests in $ENA and plans to use $USDe for part of its treasury.
This announcement represents a major validation of institutional interest in the protocol.
• June 11-12
The @SteakhouseFi High Yield Vault, launched on @coinbase via @Morpho and powered by $USDe, surpasses $100 million in just four days.
STAC
Confirmation of a $250 million commitment to @Securitize ’s STAC fund, specialized in tokenized AAA CLOs deployed on @solana .
• June 26
@stablecoin_x completes its merger with TLGY.
The company begins trading on Nasdaq under the tickers: $USDE.
• June 29
Major announcement:
$USDe is now supported by @BlackRock Aladdin, the world’s leading financial risk management platform.
At the same time:
• $BUIDL becomes the primary reserve asset for whitelabel products
• A $100M liquidity facility is established with Securitize between $BUIDL, $USDC, and $USDtb
$ENA rises 8–12%.
Why this announcement mattered
Integration into Aladdin does not just add $USDe as another asset. It makes the protocol visible within the daily infrastructure used by many of the world’s largest financial institutions for portfolio analysis and risk management. This is likely one of the most significant institutional validations ethena has received since inception.
July 2026 (as of July 7)
• July 1
Steakhouse selects ethena as the primary collateral issuer for @RobinhoodCrypto Earn, the first decentralized lending product integrated into the @RobinhoodApp app via Robinhood Chain.
This integration potentially opens $USDe to millions of retail users without them needing to interact directly with DeFi.
• July 2
Publication of the official “What Happened in June” recap.
• July 5-6
The coinbase vault exceeds $200 million in AUM after just one month.
Key 2026 Figures
• $USDe Supply
February: $6.07B
March: $5.97B
End of April: $3.90B
End of May: $4.51B
End of June: ~$4.5B
• Revenue Run-Rate: ~$234M annualized
The Two Major Lessons of 2026
Two major events now illustrate Ethena’s resilience:
• The @StreamDefi crisis in November 2025
• The $rsETH collapse in April 2026
In both cases:
• The crisis originated from an external actor
• $USDe maintained its dollar peg
• ethena remained solvent and over-collateralized
• The protocol still experienced significant outflows due to broader risk aversion
This distinction is essential: the withdrawals were driven more by sectoral contagion than by any direct challenge to Ethena’s model.
Conclusion
2026 marks a scaling phase for ethena .
After demonstrating the robustness of its model against multiple major crises in 2025, the protocol undertook a profound transformation of its financial architecture. The drastic reduction in derivatives dependence, diversification of $USDe’s backing toward institutional loans and tokenized assets, and integration of products like $BUIDL reflect a shift toward a more diversified and resilient model.
At the same time, @ethena expanded partnerships with major players such as @cbventures, @JHIAdvisors , @centrifuge , @Securitize , @RobinhoodCrypto , and @BlackRock , while @stablecoin_x listed on $Nasdaq. These developments signal growing recognition of the protocol beyond the traditional crypto ecosystem.
While two external crises — @StreamDefi and $rsETH — triggered significant capital outflows, neither challenged the protocol’s solvency or $USDe’s stability. This ability to absorb systemic shocks without a lasting peg break has become one of the strongest arguments in favor of Ethena’s model.
If 2025 was the year of technical validation for the protocol, 2026 may be remembered as the year of its progressive institutionalization. The challenge for the coming years is no longer to prove that the model works, but to confirm its ability to establish itself as a durable financial infrastructure bridging decentralized and traditional finance

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

Think of this as an evolving historical record of @ethena .

Markets move fast, information changes, and it’s always possible that I’ve missed something.

If you have corrections or additional context, please share them in the comments. I’ll review everything and update the thread whenever necessary.

[Cocopark @realcocopark]

ethena – 2025 Year in Review
February 2025 — First Major Resilience Test
• February 21: @Bybit_Official suffers a hack of approximately $1.4B–$1.5B, attributed to the Lazarus Group. At the time, it was the largest hack in crypto history.
• At that moment, @ethena had roughly $30M in unrealized PnL exposed on @Bybit_Official through its derivatives positions. This exposure was neutralized in under an hour.
• The same day, $USDe experienced the largest redemption wave in its history: $120M–$123M withdrawn in just a few hours. On secondary markets, $USDe briefly dipped to $0.98 before quickly returning to peg.
• Following the event, ethena immediately strengthened its risk management:
• Increased the mint/redeem buffer from $30M to $250M
• Reduced notional exposure to @Bybit_Official from 21% ($1.2B) to 15% ($800M)
• Redeployed a significant portion of positions to @binance
• Shortly after, $ENA was listed on @BithumbOfficial .
Why this event mattered
This hack represented the first real-world, large-scale test of Ethena’s delta-neutral model. Despite the operational failure of one of its key trading partners, the protocol absorbed massive redemptions without service interruption or permanent peg loss, significantly strengthening its credibility.
March 2025 — @convergeonchain Announcement
• March 17-18: ethena and @Securitize unveil convergeonchain , an EVM-compatible blockchain dedicated to institutional assets, at the Tokenize Summit in New York.
Target mainnet launch: Q2 2025.
Initial announced partners include:
• @aave (Horizon)
• @pendle_fi
• @Morpho
• @maplefinance
•ethereal (@meridiandotxyz)
Key custodians announced:
• @Anchorage Digital
• @CopperHQ
• @FireblocksHQ
• @komainu
• @ZodiaCustody
convergeonchain is designed to natively host: $USDe, $USDtb, and $iUSDe.
April 2025
• April 17: Further technical details on convergeonchain .
Architecture based on:
• @arbitrum
• @celestia for data availability
Blocks produced every 100ms, with a target of 50ms by Q4. Testnet announced “in the coming weeks.”
May 2025
• May 1 — TOKEN2049 Dubai
Major partnership announced with The Open Network ($TON) and @telegram .
$USDe and $sUSDe (renamed tsUSDe) become directly accessible in the @wallet_tg, potentially opening access to over a billion users.
Early users receive a 10% APY bonus in $TON on the first 10,000 $tsUSDe per wallet.
At this time, $USDe stands at approximately $4.6–4.7B, making it the 4th largest stablecoin globally.
• Meanwhile, $ENA continues to decline even as protocol revenue grows from ~$10M to $20.5M weekly.
This divergence between fundamentals and price appears driven mainly by investor concerns over future token unlocks rather than operational performance.
June 2025
• June 2: coinbase adds $ENA to its listing roadmap.
• Early June: $USDe reaches $5.9B–$6.3B in TVL and becomes the 3rd largest stablecoin, behind $USDT and $USDC.
July 2025
• The GENIUS Act is passed in the United States, establishing a dedicated regulatory framework for stablecoins.
• July 21:
Announcement of @stablecoin_x , a dedicated $ENA treasury vehicle resulting from the merger of TLGY Acquisition Corp and SC Assets.
Objectives:
• Nasdaq listing under ticker $USDE
• $360M raise
Investors include: @PanteraCapital, @dragonfly_xyz , @GalaxyDigital , @polychaincap.
Of the $360M raised:
• $260M to purchase $ENA on the open market
• @EthenaFndtn adds $60M worth of $ENA
Following the announcement, $ENA reaches ~$0.58.
September 2025 — The Pivotal Month
• September 6: @stablecoin_x announces an additional $530M raise, bringing total announced funding to $890M.
• September 9: @binance officially lists $USDe.
New integrations include $USDE/ $USDT , $USDE/ $USDC pairs, @binance Earn, and collateral for perpetual contracts.
$USDe becomes accessible to over 280 million users. Market cap approaches $12–13B.
At this stage, the conditions for triggering the fee switch ( $USDe supply > $6B + presence on major exchanges) appear met. ethena communications indicate activation of the mechanism, though the exact operational rollout timeline remains under discussion.
$ENA reaches ~$0.81, its highest level of the year.
Other September announcements:
• Launch of $USDm with @megaeth
• Launch of $suiUSDe on @SuiNetwork
• $20M investment from M2 Capital
October 2025 — The Major Stress Test
• October 7: Partnership with UR Global.
$USDe reaches its all-time high: over $14.8B.
Three days later, one of the largest liquidation events in crypto history occurs.
• October 10-11:
Surprise announcement of new U.S. tariffs on China triggers:
• $Bitcoin crash from $125K to $102K (-18.4%)
• Nearly $19B in liquidations within 24 hours
During the event:
• On Curve, $USDe remains almost stable (≈ -0.3%)
• On @binance , an extremely brief wick drops $USDe to $0.65 — largely attributed to a local order book or pricing glitch on the exchange, with no challenge to the protocol’s collateralization
• $ENA drops sharply but rebounds over 8% in the following days
Why this event mattered
Following the @Bybit_Official hack, this was the second major test of Ethena’s delta-neutral model. Despite massive liquidations, $USDe largely maintained its dollar peg market-wide. However, widespread deleveraging of $USDe strategies on @aave and @pendle_fi triggered a sharp contraction in TVL.
November 2025 — The Contagion
• November 3-4: @StreamDefi announces a $93M loss and suspends withdrawals. Its stablecoin $xUSD collapses.
Contagion spreads to: @elixir , @Morpho , @eulerfinance , @compoundfinance , @SiloFinance .
Total estimated exposure: ~$285M.
This becomes the largest capital outflow from yield-bearing stablecoins since the $TerraUSD collapse in 2022.
Key point: $USDe does not lose its dollar peg during the crisis.
The protocol still sees ~$700M in redemptions over one week.
Since the October 11 peak, over $5.4B has gradually left $USDe.
@gdog97_ publicly highlights that Stream relied on a single opaque fund manager, implicitly underscoring the on-chain transparency of Ethena’s model.
December 2025
• December 2: @Terminal_fi, the DEX incubated by ethena for convergeonchain , cancels its launch. All $280M deposited are fully refunded.
At this point, no mainnet launch date for convergeeonchain has been announced, and public communications from the project have become much less frequent since the end of summer.
• December 4: Partnership with @Anchorage Digital for institutional rewards on $USDtb and $USDe.
• December 8: ethena repurchases 25 million $ENA (≈$7.05M), bringing its treasury to 779.89 million $ENA.
• December 24: @Anchorage Digital Bank becomes the official custodian for $USDe reserves starting in 2026.
• End of December: TVL falls to approximately $7.4B — nearly half of the October peak.
2025 Year in Numbers
• Protocol revenue: $230.8M
• $USDe: ~$6B → $14.8B → $7.4B
• $ENA: ~$1.25 at the start of the year → $0.81 in September → $0.20–$0.23 by end of December
• convergeonchain : Announced in March with Q2 target, still not live by year-end
Conclusion
2025 will be remembered as a year of contrasts for ethena .
Operationally, the protocol demonstrated remarkable resilience. It survived the largest hack in crypto history, absorbed multiple massive redemption waves, withstood one of the biggest liquidation events in the market, and overall maintained $USDe’s dollar peg. Adoption accelerated thanks to major exchange integrations, key institutional partnerships, and strong revenue growth.
However, this operational strength did not translate into a sustained re-rating of $ENA. Token unlock concerns, delays with convergeonchain , uncertainty around the fee switch timeline, and large capital outflows after the October shock kept persistent pressure on the token price.
Ultimately, 2025 was the year Ethena’s economic model was broadly validated under extreme market conditions, while $ENA’s valuation remained primarily tied to the team’s ability to execute its roadmap.