Ethena has expanded USDe’s hedged reserve strategy to tokenized U.S. stocks and stock perpetual futures while preparing to end every USDe growth incentive tied to token emissions at the end of September. The paired decisions place more weight on returns generated by the protocol’s underlying hedges just as ENA faces a major change in its token-unlock schedule.
The protocol announced on Sept. 25 that it had added Binance’s tokenized U.S. equities, known as bStocks, and associated stock perpetual futures to USDe’s basis-trade framework. One day later, Ethena said all USDe-related token incentives and inflation would cease at month-end, with no additional distributions planned.
ENA rose from about $0.014 on Sept. 16 to roughly $0.20 before advancing again to around $0.28, a gain of nearly 100% over 10 days, according to the price figures provided. The rally occurred as traders assessed both the expansion into equity-linked markets and a series of supply-related changes due in early October.
Tokenized stocks join USDe’s hedging framework
USDe is designed to maintain a dollar peg through a delta-neutral structure: Ethena holds collateral while taking an equivalent short position in perpetual futures. That offset seeks to remove direct exposure to the price of the collateral asset, leaving the protocol’s return dependent largely on derivatives funding and basis conditions.
Ethena used crypto assets and crypto perpetuals in the original version of that approach. Its latest move applies the same mechanics to tokenized equities: bStocks would serve as spot collateral, while short positions in stock perpetual futures would hedge the stock-price exposure.
The expansion comes after returns from crypto basis trades weakened materially. Ethena said crypto basis contributed about 1% to returns by August 2026. That compares with Bitcoin funding rates, weighted by open interest, of about 11% annualized during 2024, according to figures cited in the supplied material.
Ethena said the average annualized stock-basis return over the preceding six months was 3.56%. Whether those conditions persist will depend on funding rates in the stock perpetual market, which can change quickly as long and short positioning shifts.
The move gives Ethena access to a different derivatives market rather than relying solely on crypto funding rates. Yet it also introduces reliance on the liquidity, collateral management and trading infrastructure around tokenized stocks, an area that remains far smaller and less tested than conventional listed-equity markets.
USDe supply stood at about $5.5 billion on Ethena’s website. The stablecoin had previously reached approximately $14.8 billion in supply around October 2025 before shrinking below $5 billion by August 2026, based on the figures provided. That contraction followed a period in which crypto basis returns became less attractive and illustrates how rapidly capital can leave yield-oriented stablecoin structures when the economics change.
Incentives end after more than $750 million in rewards
Ethena said USDe growth incentives linked to token emissions had already declined by about 85% since its first airdrop in 2024. The month-end decision completes that reduction by ending the remaining reward and inflation programs.
Crypto Briefing reported that cumulative rewards distributed since launch exceeded $750 million and helped support USDe’s expansion to about $15 billion in October 2025. Supply subsequently fell more than 65%, according to the supplied data.
Ending emissions removes a source of token-based rewards that had supplemented returns generated by the protocol’s reserve strategy. USDe’s appeal will therefore rest more directly on organic yield from its hedges and on demand for the stablecoin’s use in decentralized finance and trading collateral.
The change may also make the protocol’s performance easier to judge. A return supported by derivatives funding is economically different from one enhanced through newly issued tokens, particularly when funding conditions are weak. Ethena’s stock-perpetual strategy is now expected to contribute to that organic-return profile.
October unlock concentrates ENA supply event
The Ethena Foundation separately said in August that all remaining original investor unlocks would be completed early on Oct. 5, 2026. Under the previous plan, investor tokens would have continued unlocking monthly through March 2028.
The revision combines roughly 17 monthly investor releases that were scheduled from November 2026 through March 2028 into a single Oct. 5 release. The Foundation said investor unlocks will therefore finish about 17 months earlier than originally planned.
Under the former schedule, approximately 78.125 million ENA would have unlocked for investors on the fifth day of each month. Core contributors were scheduled to receive about 93.75 million ENA on the same date, while Foundation tokens unlock at about 40.625 million ENA on the second day of the month.
The accelerated investor release does not alter the existing monthly vesting schedules for team and Foundation allocations. Core contributor tokens are still scheduled to unlock on Oct. 5 under the original timetable, concentrating several supply-related events around the same date.
A compressed unlock does not automatically translate into sales. It does, though, give formerly restricted holders immediate flexibility over a larger pool of ENA, which can increase sensitivity to liquidity conditions and demand in spot markets.
StablecoinX waiver adds another supply variable
A separate Sept. 14 waiver involving StablecoinX, Ethena OpCo and the Ethena Foundation removed lockup, vesting and phased-unlock restrictions for tokens held by, or delivered to, StablecoinX beginning Oct. 5. The arrangement was later disclosed in a Form 8-K.
StablecoinX holds about 3.03 billion ENA, roughly 20% of total supply, according to the supplied material. Those tokens had been subject to a 48-month lockup under a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, transaction.
The waiver continues to classify the tokens as inventory holdings and requires StablecoinX to obtain written consent from the Ethena Foundation before any sale, transfer or disposal. If StablecoinX seeks to sell tokens for operating capital or strategic purposes, it must provide at least five business days’ written notice. The Foundation has a right of first refusal to buy the tokens at the proposed sale price.
The Foundation also said it had bought back locked tokens through over-the-counter transactions from certain seed holders who sold ENA after the Oct. 10, 2025 price peak. It said it offered at-par buybacks to qualifying holders that did not sell after that date, though no holder accepted that offer. The Foundation did not disclose counterparties, quantities or transaction prices.
Ethena’s transition now combines two separate tests: whether stock-linked basis trades can supplement weakening crypto derivatives income, and whether ENA demand can absorb a more concentrated unlock schedule without the support of continuing USDe-linked emissions.
Explore how stock tokenization works and its risks in our guide on tokenized equities for active traders.
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