Standard Chartered sees Ethena’s USDe reaching $40B, ENA hitting $2

British multinational bank Standard Chartered expects Ethena’s USDe stablecoin supply to grow eightfold to $40 billion by the end of 2028 as the protocol expands its sources of yield beyond crypto markets.

In a Wednesday research report shared with Cointelegraph, the bank initiated coverage of Ethena’s ENA token with a year-end 2028 price target of $2, roughly seven times the $0.28 price cited in the report. Standard Chartered also expects USDe to slightly outpace overall stablecoin market growth over the period.

Its forecasts imply ENA would also outperform Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) through 2028. Standard Chartered sees BTC reaching $300,000 and ETH $18,000 by the end of the period.

Standard Chartered’s year-end digital asset price forecasts through 2028. Source: Standard Chartered Research

Standard Chartered said declining returns from USDe’s traditional crypto basis trade, which involves holding spot crypto while shorting perpetual futures, have pushed Ethena to expand into DeFi and institutional lending, real-world assets and basis trades tied to equities and commodities. Those sources currently generate a blended yield of 5.2%, giving USDe more room to scale.

The bank forecasts the broader market for tokenized assets will grow from about $350 billion today to $4 trillion by the end of 2028, expanding the pool of assets Ethena could use to generate yield.