Author: Weilin, PANews
On December 16, the DeFi project Ethena Labs announced the official launch of its new stablecoin USDtb. As a blockchain-based dollar stablecoin, 90% of USDtb's reserve funds are invested in BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL and in collaboration with leading real-world asset tokenization company Securitize.
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 between $500 million and $1 billion. He also mentioned that some TradFi entities, while not truly engaging with other cryptocurrencies, already have considerable exposure to what Ethena is doing.
Supported by the BlackRock BUIDL fund to cope with 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 dollar-equivalent assets (such as cash, U.S. Treasuries, and repurchase agreements). Ethena does not manage financial assets directly but entrusts them to various banks or service providers in the real world. Essentially, BlackRock and Securitize are responsible for the entire process. Therefore, USDtb is fundamentally different from Ethena's flagship stablecoin USDe.
USDtb will serve as an alternative stablecoin for Ethena, accommodating USDe's funds in extreme market conditions. Ethena's CEO Guy Young recently mentioned on the Unchained podcast that USDtb looks very similar to regular stablecoins and does not yield returns, so retail users purchasing it will not receive yields as they would with treasury funds. 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 (such as entering a bear market), users always retain the choice to close (positions) and enter USDtb while keeping the balance sheet in their own products.
Therefore, USDtb may help USDe holders 'navigate tough market conditions'. Ethena Labs stated in a December 16 announcement: 'Ethena will be able to close the hedge 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 partnered with the blockchain tokenization company Securitize. One of Ethena's committee members, Block Analiticia, pointed out in an approved proposal that stablecoins like USDC will account for the remaining 10% of USDtb reserves, which can provide additional liquidity during weekends or other periods when the government bond market cannot trade. The 'core' part of USDtb's smart contract passed three full audits in October by Pashov, Quantstamp, and Cyfrin.
USDtb may drive a significant inflow of funds from TradFi
Ethena Lab's synthetic stablecoin USDe was launched in February this year and has since experienced rapid growth, now ranking as the third-largest stablecoin after USDT and USDC. Its market capitalization has more than doubled in just a month and a half since November 1, reaching nearly $6 billion, even surpassing DAI, the historic DeFi native stablecoin.
The key to USDe's success lies in the yields 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 a so-called 'delta-neutral' position, where the value of the assets and the short position offset each other, maintaining overall price stability.
Currently, as most traders are bullish on cryptocurrencies, they are paying funds to Ethena to short, while the protocol passes these funds on to USDe holders through staking. As long as this situation continues, USDe's yield should remain high. However, if traders turn bearish, Ethena will not be able to provide such high yields.
In addition, 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 posted on Twitter about the different ways Ethena is primarily used. Pendle is the preferred destination for Staked USDe with assets over $1 billion, with Aave in second place. Ethena CEO Guy Young recently mentioned 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 a few months.
Returning to the new stablecoin USDtb itself, after the launch of USDtb, Ethena's growth director Seraphim Czecker stated that Ethena's roadmap is clear:
- Incorporating conservative TradFi into USDtb
- Help them adapt to USDe
- Help them understand on-chain opportunities like Aave, Maker, etc.
José Maria Macedo, co-founder of blockchain research and development company Delphi Labs, predicts that USDtb will become the largest tokenized government bond product within a month of its launch. Ethena's growth lead, Seraphim Czecker, stated that USDtb has the potential to expand to $100 billion, as the company can now effectively allocate capital in a bear market environment by creating an APY 'floor' around treasury rates. 'USDtb will drive a significant inflow of funds from TradFi into our space,' Seraphim summarized.
Currently, Ethena has indeed surpassed a bunch 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 repeatedly outperformed Tether, Uniswap, Ethereum, Jito, Solana, etc., and has become an important project for DeFi user interaction.
