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Ethena, a decentralized stablecoin protocol, has announced plans for expansion into traditional finance (TradFi) with a new product and a strategic partnership with Telegram, according to a blog post by the company.
Known for its high-yield stablecoin USDe, Ethena plans to launch iUSDe, a version of USDe specifically designed for institutional investors such as asset managers and pension funds.
"The next step of Ethena’s growth will primarily be driven by exporting the product into traditional finance," Ethena founder, Guy Young, who goes by "G," said in the announcement.
iUSDe will allow traditional financial institutions like asset managers and pension funds to gain exposure to USDe's yields without directly interacting with cryptocurrency. Ethena said it is working with the "full spectrum" of traditional finance distribution partners to enable their clients to access iUSDe.
"By providing the connective tissue to legacy finance... capital will be free to flow into Ethena at unprecedented scale," G explained.
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To further expand its reach, Ethena is partnering with Telegram to launch a dedicated application for sending, spending, and saving USDe. This integration leverages Telegram's massive user base of over 900 million, positioning Ethena to become a major player in the payments and savings space.
"A dollar with a yield... is the only crypto enabled product I believe will touch the hands of a billion people outside of Bitcoin," G stated. This ambitious goal underscores Ethena's vision to make USDe a ubiquitous and accessible financial tool for a global audience.
Beyond these initiatives, Ethena is also building the Ethena Network, a platform designed to foster innovation within the DeFi ecosystem. The network will support new protocols built on USDe, creating a thriving community of developers and further enhancing the utility of the stablecoin.
Ethena, which launched in February 2024, said that in 2024, it surpassed $1.2 billion in annualized revenue in the last month, and grew to become the third-largest USD asset in the space, at $6 billion supply in 10 months.
The company also noted that outside of USDT and USDC, it accounted for 85% of all onchain USD asset growth in 2024. Additionally, USDe has been outpacing aggregate ETF growth in notional dollar inflows in recent weeks.
Since the announcement, the ENA token has rallied by about 25%, reaching $1.25 as of publication time.
