Author: Weilin, PANews
On December 16, the DeFi project Ethena Labs announced the official launch of its new stablecoin USDtb. As a blockchain-based US dollar stablecoin, 90% of USDtb's reserve funds are invested in BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL, and it cooperates with Securitize, a leading real-world asset tokenization company.
On the first day of launch, according to DefiLlama data, USDtb's TVL reached $64.5 million. Previously, Ethena CEO Guy Young predicted that USDtb's first-month TVL would reach $500 million to $1 billion. He also said that some TradFi entities, although they have no real exposure to other cryptocurrencies, currently have considerable exposure to what Ethena is doing.
Supported by BlackRock's BUIDL fund, addressing market volatility in a bear market
The newly launched USDtb is a relatively traditional crypto stablecoin that looks almost identical to USDC and USDT. The only difference is that Ethena supports this stablecoin with BlackRock's BUIDL treasury fund as collateral. BUIDL is a tokenized fund that invests in assets equivalent to the dollar, such as cash, U.S. Treasury bonds, and repurchase agreements. Ethena does not manage financial assets directly but entrusts them to various banks or service providers in the real world. Essentially, it allows BlackRock and Securitize to be responsible for the entire process. Therefore, USDtb operates on a completely different product principle than Ethena's flagship stablecoin USDe.
USDtb will serve as Ethena's alternative stablecoin, taking over USDe's funds in extreme market conditions. Ethena's CEO Guy Young recently noted on the Unchained podcast that USDtb looks very similar to regular stablecoins and does not yield on its own, meaning retail users purchasing it will not earn like they would with a Treasury fund. He stated that the two products actually work in parallel, and in 98% of cases, when cryptocurrency exchange rates appear more attractive than traditional finance rates, USDe operates as it does now. Then, to the extent that conditions change (like entering a bear market), users always retain the option to close (positions) and enter USDtb, keeping their balance sheet within their own products.
Therefore, USDtb may help USDe holders 'navigate tough market conditions'. Ethena Labs stated in an announcement on December 16: 'Ethena will be able to close the hedged positions behind USDe and reallocate its supporting assets to USDtb to further mitigate related risks.'
90% of this stablecoin is supported by BlackRock's BUIDL and is in collaboration with the blockchain tokenization company Securitize. One of Ethena's committee members, Block Analiticia, noted in an approved proposal that stablecoins like USDC will account for the remaining 10% of the USDtb reserves, providing additional liquidity over weekends or other periods when government bonds cannot be traded. The 'core' part of USDtb's smart contract passed three full audits through Pashov, Quantstamp, and Cyfrin in October.
USDtb may drive a significant influx of funds from TradFi
Ethena Lab's synthetic stablecoin USDe was launched in February this year and has since grown rapidly, now ranking as the third largest stablecoin after USDT and USDC. Since November 1, just a month and a half ago, its market capitalization has more than doubled to nearly $6 billion, even surpassing DAI, a historically significant DeFi-native stablecoin.
The key to USDe's success lies in the yield it offers. The token has an annual yield of 27%, far exceeding the 12.5% offered by DAI and USDS. USDe is created by depositing Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana into the Ethena protocol and then opening short positions on futures exchanges like Bybit. This creates what is known as a 'delta-neutral' position, where the value of the assets and the short position offset each other, thereby maintaining overall price stability.
Currently, due to the bullish sentiment among most traders towards cryptocurrencies, they are paying Ethena to short, while the protocol transfers these funds to USDe holders through staking. As long as this situation continues, the yield on USDe should remain high. However, if traders turn bearish, Ethena will not be able to offer such high yields.
Additionally, the Staked USDe (sUSDe) launched by Ethena is a yield token that allows users to earn additional returns by staking USDe tokens. Through staking rewards and basis trading strategies, sUSDe provides high yields for holders.
Blockworks Research recently published on Twitter about the different ways Ethena is primarily utilized. Pendle is the preferred destination for Staked USDe with over $1 billion in assets, followed by Aave. Ethena CEO Guy Young recently introduced on the Unchained podcast that approximately 50% to 60% of Pendle's TVL is built on sUSDe. Aave has increased its TVL by over $1 billion in just a few months.
Returning to the new stablecoin USDtb itself, after the launch of USDtb, Ethena's growth director Seraphim Czecker stated that the path for Ethena is clear:
- Bringing conservative TradFi into USDtb
- Helping them adapt to USDe
- Helping them understand on-chain opportunities like Aave, Maker, etc. for USDe
José Maria Macedo, one of the founders of blockchain research and development company Delphi Labs, predicts that USDtb will become the largest tokenized Treasury product within a month of its launch. Ethena's growth director Seraphim Czecker mentioned that USDtb has the potential to expand to $100 billion, as the company can now effectively allocate capital in a bearish market environment by creating an 'APY floor' around Treasury bond yields. 'USDtb will drive a significant influx of funds from TradFi into our space,' Seraphim concluded.
Currently, Ethena has indeed surpassed a number of crypto-native protocols on many different metrics. One of them is that it has consistently been one of the highest fee 'generators'. It has outperformed Tether, Uniswap, Ethereum, Jito, Solana, and has become an important project for DeFi user interaction.
