The day before yesterday (9/26), Ethena announced that it will soon launch a new stable currency UStb. It plans to invest the reserve assets of UStb in BlackRock's "BUIDL" fund (this service is provided by RWA service provider Securitize). A more stable source of income.
So what exactly can UStb help the Ethena ecosystem do?
1. Stable income
"BUIDL" is a tokenized fund that invests in cash, U.S. Treasury bonds, and repurchase agreements. UStb will be able to obtain long-term and stable positive returns by investing in it; and Ethena's existing stable currency USDe, because of its returns and contract market The funding rate is correlated, so USDe lacks profitability in a bear market cycle with negative funding rates.
If the launch of USDe is an attempt to innovate, then UStb is equivalent to an updated function that makes up for the shortcomings of USDe. After all, USDe involves the survivability of the entire Ethena protocol. Only by correcting the mistakes can we go forward in the long run.
Interestingly, the above point was also mentioned in the announcement. Through Ethena's governance proposal, Ethena will be able to try to close USDe's hedging positions and reallocate funds to UStb to deal with related risks.
2. Improve market acceptance
Since Ethena launched USDe, the market has always been uneasy about its operating mechanism. Of course, this is related to the collapse of stablecoins in the previous cycle, which has caused the market to treat stablecoins with stricter standards.
Regardless of whether USDe has proven itself, but looking at today’s protagonist UStb, because it is a fund based on investing in US Treasury bonds, cash, repurchase agreements and other assets, in fact, this makes UStb different from mainstream stablecoins such as USDT, USDC is very similar.
This can make the market confident and more willing to accept holding UStb, and can convince centralized exchanges to support UStb, or even use UStb as contract margin collateral.
Summarize
From an Ethena ecological perspective, the emergence of UStb will undoubtedly strengthen the stability and profitability of the protocol, but just like my past views on USDe, it is difficult to see the correlation between UStb and USDe with the price of the ENA token.
Of course, the official has not announced more information about UStb. We can pay attention in the future to see if UStb has an empowering effect on ENA, or whether UStb has a higher points bonus effect in the third quarter airdrop activity. This It may be a part that ENA holders or airdrop participants are more concerned about.
※Partners who want to participate in the Ethena Season 3 airdrop event to earn ENA airdrops can use my code:
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※ The above content is purely personal sharing and does not constitute investment advice (NFA). Users are advised to DYOR and assess their personal risk tolerance.
※Cover image screenshot from Ethena Mirror article
