Ethena Takes USDe Beyond Crypto With Tokenized Stocks and Binance Equity Perpetuals

By Hassan Shittu

Ethena is expanding the backing strategy behind its USDe synthetic dollar into tokenized equities, partnering with Binance to combine tokenized U.S. stocks with equity perpetual futures in a basis trade designed to generate returns beyond crypto markets.

Under the arrangement, Ethena will use Binance’s bStocks as the spot side of the trade and hedge the exposure with USDT-denominated equity perpetuals on Binance. 

The strategy builds on the delta-neutral approach already used by Ethena in crypto markets. Instead of simply holding an asset and taking on its price risk, the protocol combines a spot position with an offsetting derivatives position.

In this case, Ethena can hold a tokenized stock through bStocks while taking a corresponding short position through an equity perpetual. If the two positions closely offset the stock’s price movements, the trade can reduce directional exposure while allowing Ethena to capture funding or basis-related returns.

The move therefore extends a strategy that has traditionally relied on crypto assets into tokenized equities, giving USDe another potential source of yield while reducing its dependence on crypto-native markets.

How Ethena plans to turn tokenized stocks into new USDe returns

The expansion could significantly increase the pool of assets available to Ethena. The Ethena Foundation estimates that its potential collateral market could grow from about $2.5 trillion in crypto assets to more than $150 trillion in real-world assets.

The potential returns can vary significantly with market conditions. Ethena said Binance’s equity basis trade averaged more than 11% annualized over the previous six months, while a separate risk assessment prepared for its Risk Committee put the six-month average at 3.56% annualized.

The difference reflects the changing nature of funding and basis markets rather than a fixed return for the strategy.

Ethena has also set minimum requirements for contracts that can be considered. Eligible contracts must have at least $25 million in average one-sided open interest over 14 days, 30 days of funding history, and a corresponding tokenized spot instrument. Leveraged and inverse ETFs are excluded.

Using August 26 data, the framework identified 17 qualifying names on Binance and three on OKX. Binance accounted for about $2.14 billion in one-sided open interest across the qualifying contracts.

The strategy therefore gives USDe access to a much wider range of potential collateral, but its returns will still depend on liquidity, tracking between the tokenized stocks and perpetual contracts, and the basis available in each market.

Tokenized stocks are booming, but can the market handle crypto volatility?

The strategy also introduces a risk that does not exist in the same way with crypto-native assets: tokenized stocks can trade around the clock, while the underlying U.S. equities do not.

That mismatch can become particularly important during weekends and holidays.

Equity perpetuals can continue trading and react to new information while traditional stock markets are closed, potentially creating large differences between the tokenized asset and its underlying share price.

Ethena’s framework therefore calls for tighter position limits, closer monitoring, and additional controls for periods of significant divergence.

The risk can also be higher when a tokenized stock first launches.

Ethena’s Risk Committee found that basis dispersion was elevated during the first few days of trading before becoming more stable after roughly two weeks. It therefore recommended limiting exposure to newly launched tokenized stocks.

The risks are emerging alongside rapid growth in the underlying market.

Binance introduced bStocks in June, initially offering tokenized exposure to companies including Nvidia, Tesla, Circle, Micron, and SanDisk. The tokens provide economic exposure to the underlying securities but do not give holders direct voting rights.

Data cited by Ethena showed the broader tokenized stock market reached about $2.7 billion in August, up from roughly $80 million a year earlier. Binance’s bStocks accounted for more than $600 million of that market.

For Ethena, the growth creates a larger pool of assets for its USDe strategy, but the market’s relatively young infrastructure also means liquidity, pricing differences, and around-the-clock trading will remain important risks to manage.

USDe’s next growth phase could depend on tokenized real-world assets

Ethena’s expansion comes as Binance continues to broaden its traditional finance offerings and deepen its presence in equity markets.

Binance now gives eligible users access to thousands of U.S. stocks and ETFs, while its TradFi perpetual futures market has also grown. 

Trading volume for the products reached about $433.4 billion in August, with equity-linked contracts accounting for roughly $342.9 billion.

For Ethena, the equity strategy is part of a broader effort to expand USDe beyond its original crypto basis-trading model. 

The stablecoin’s backing has increasingly incorporated lending, other stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets. In August, Ethena launched a $1 billion institutional lending facility with FalconX, allowing assets backing USDe to support overcollateralized loans to institutional borrowers.

The protocol is also expanding USDe’s reach across blockchain networks. USDe and sUSDe launched on Tron in September, giving the stablecoins access to a network with nearly $100 billion in stablecoin assets, according to Ethena. 

Ethena is also developing non-trading uses for USDe through Ethena Pay, which offers spending, savings, and global money-transfer services, with Avalanche serving as its settlement layer.

Source:: Ethena Takes USDe Beyond Crypto With Tokenized Stocks and Binance Equity Perpetuals