Ethena Coming after our contract and holder checks finish for this coin. See the Scorecard for every call so far.
What it is
Ethena is the company and protocol behind USDe, a dollar-pegged token that is not backed by dollars in a bank. Instead, USDe is backed mostly by ether and bitcoin, paired with short positions in futures markets so that price moves in the crypto cancel out. Ethena also holds some ordinary stablecoins and other yield-bearing assets. People who stake USDe receive sUSDe and earn yield, which comes largely from the funding payments traders pay on those futures markets.
ENA is the governance token. It lets holders vote on Ethena's settings, and it has not historically received any of the protocol's revenue. The maximum supply is 15 billion ENA, with about 9.8 billion circulating in September 2026, before a large investor unlock in October.
In September 2026 holders approved a fee switch, which would use part of Ethena's revenue to buy back ENA. Buybacks only begin once USDe supply reaches $7.5 billion, well above the roughly $4.2 billion recorded at the time. Around the same time, the foundation bought back unvested tokens from several early investors and ended the monthly investor unlock schedule, releasing the remaining investor tokens in one tranche on October 5, 2026. Team and foundation vesting continue into 2028.
What can go wrong
- USDe's yield depends on futures funding rates; when funding turns negative for long stretches, the backing earns less or loses money, and demand for USDe can fall fast.
- On October 10, 2025, USDe briefly traded below $0.66 on Binance during a market crash, even though it held closer to $1 elsewhere, showing how a single venue can break the peg for users trading there.
- USDe relies on exchanges and custodians to hold collateral and hedges, so trouble at a large exchange is a direct risk.
- ENA's buyback depends on USDe supply nearly doubling, so token holders may not receive anything for a long time; team and foundation tokens keep unlocking until 2028.
USDe is not the same as a bank-backed stablecoin like USDC. Its yield comes from trading strategies, and ENA is a separate, much riskier governance token.
Safety checks
- Track recordCautionTrading since 2024, about 2 years. It hasn't been through a full market cycle yet, so treat its history as short.
- Trading activityGood$362.3 million traded in the last 24 hours, 14% of its market value. That's enough activity that a normal-size order shouldn't move the price.
- Coins still to comeGood13.41 billion of 15.00 billion maximum coins are in circulation, so about 11% are still to be released. Little new supply is left to hit the market.
- Distance from its peakRed flagDown 87% from its all-time high of $1.52 in April 2024. Most people who bought near the top have lost most of their money. A big drop doesn't make a coin cheap.
- Past yearFor context−57.6% over the past year, against −25.3% for bitcoin. It has done worse than simply holding bitcoin.
History of trouble and big events
- Apr 2024: ENA token launched.
- Oct 10, 2025: USDe briefly fell below $0.66 on Binance during a market-wide crash; Binance later paid compensation to affected users.
- Sep 2026: ENA holders approved a fee switch, with buybacks to start only when USDe supply reaches $7.5 billion.
Holding a token on a smaller network, or got sent one you don't recognize? Run its address through the free checker. Copycat tokens often borrow big names.