Ethena Expands USDe Backing Strategy to Equity Perpetuals for Yield Diversification

Ethena (ENA), operator of the synthetic dollar stablecoin "USDe," announced on the 28th that it will expand its backing asset management strategy into equity perpetual futures. With funding rates declining across crypto markets and the profitability of traditional basis trades eroding, the move aims to broaden revenue sources from the roughly $2.5 trillion crypto market into the equity market, which exceeds $120 trillion.

Ethena has historically earned funding fees paid by leveraged buyers by holding spot Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana while shorting their perpetual futures. This expansion applies the same trade structure to perpetuals linked to equities and commodities.

Founder Guy Young indicated that equity- and commodity-linked perpetuals have become one of the largest growth markets for the protocol. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he explained that because equities tend to rise over the long term, there is sustained demand for leveraged long positions, and unlike crypto, funding is less likely to compress even in bear markets.

The Expanding Equity Perpetual Market

Open interest in equity perpetuals is growing rapidly. From under $1 billion in March, it expanded roughly tenfold to approximately $6.2 billion by August 11, with the number of contracts reaching around 200. Hyperliquid launched with approximately $90 million in December 2025, and Binance added a Tesla-linked contract with approximately $11 million in January 2026, marking the starting point. Memory and AI-related hardware names account for roughly half of open interest.