Ethena Protocol Surpasses $500 Million in Cumulative Revenue as Synthetic Stablecoins Gain Market Share
Immy Dorse 
Well, it seems Ethena Labs had some pretty significant news to share this week. The numbers they dropped are, frankly, hard to ignore. On Thursday, the team announced that their Ethena protocol has now generated over half a billion dollars in cumulative revenue. That’s a serious milestone, and it looks like things have really picked up speed since around July.
A Surge in Revenue and Supply
The details came from a post on X. Apparently, just in the last week, the protocol pulled in $13.4 million in revenue. And the circulating supply of their synthetic dollar, USDe, hit a new record—$11.7 billion. That’s a lot of growth in a fairly short amount of time.
An Ethena spokesperson tried to explain the driver behind it. They mentioned strong inflows into USDe and, perhaps just as importantly, favorable market conditions that boosted returns from their hedging model. It sounds like people are increasingly looking at USDe as a place to store value. I think that’s the core of it.
Synthetic Stablecoins Gain Ground
This isn’t just about one project, though. According to DefiLlama, USDe is now the third-largest stablecoin by market cap. More notably, it’s the biggest among the so-called synthetic stablecoins. Its market cap shot up by over 86% in the past month alone.
But others in the same category are moving too. Sky Dollar (USDS) saw a 14% increase. And Falcon USD (USDf) jumped by a whopping 89.4%. It seems like this whole segment is having a moment right now.
Of course, these types of stablecoins come with their own set of questions. They’re not backed by physical assets, which can mean lower costs. But that also introduces risks—like instability or depegging—that could lead to some painful losses for investors. It’s a trade-off, really.
A Rising Tide for Stablecoins
This growth for synthetic options is happening within a broader market uptick. Data shows the total stablecoin market cap grew by 4% in August, reaching nearly $278 billion. Some are pointing to recent regulatory moves in the U.S. as a factor. The GENIUS Act, signed into law last month, might be providing a bit more clarity and confidence.
Even a U.S. Federal Reserve Governor commented that the act could help stablecoins realize their potential and strengthen the dollar’s global role. And now there’s talk that China might be considering its own yuan-backed stablecoin, which would be a huge shift. The landscape is changing, quickly.
It feels like we’re watching the next chapter for stablecoins unfold. Whether that’s a good thing or not, well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
