Ethena’s USDe expanded by 75% as growth turned nearly vertical in July. The stablecoin surpassed SkyProtocol’s USDS to become the third-largest stablecoin by supply.
Ethena’s USDe expanded its supply rapidly, leaving the months of supply crunch behind. For the past month, USDe grew by 75%, for a total market cap of $9.69B. The USDe supply expanded rapidly in November 2024, leading up to the December peak market. The current expansion may suggest additional months of crypto rallies, based on more reliable sentiment and liquidity.
The supply of USDe increased to a new record as Ethena’s model is the strongest during ETH rallies. | Source: DeFi Llama
The chief reason for the new minting is the directed move of ETH, rising above $3,800 in the past month. With that scenario, Ethena’s earnings model works better, allowing the platform to support a larger USDe supply.
For most of 2025, Ethena kept its USDe supply at a conservative baseline, while ETH dipped under $2,000. The month of favorable conditions led to immediate minting, adding over 4B tokens to the total supply.
Almost all other stablecoins expanded in the past weeks, with the total supply adding another $1.96B for the past seven days. USDe is now ahead of previously highly active stablecoins like Binance’s FDUSD.
The token also supports several pairs on Curve Finance, trading against USDC, as well as niche stabelcoins FraxUSD and mkUSD.
USDe takes over both centralized and decentralized markets
One of the chief boosts for USDe comes from Bybit, which now carries over 30% of the token’s trading. Another 20% of the token’s activity is based on Uniswap V3 pairs.
Part of the growth of USDe is its improved reputation, which has allowed the asset to become a part of multiple ecosystems. USDe is one of the few synthetic stablecoins to establish a supply close to 10B and shift to both DeFi and general trading.
The main attractor for USDe is its staking capability, as sUSDe currently trades at a premium. Over the past year, the premium expanded, from $1.08 to $1.19, with constant growth. However, unstaking sUSDe depends on market conditions, with waiting time expanding if too many traders demand their assets.
The supply of sUSDe has also grown to over 5.22B, suggesting currently USDe has around $4B in free supply for other operations.
ENA trades near three-month highs
Ethena’s native token ENA traded close to its three-month highs at $0.60. The token peaked at $0.68 at the end of July, reflecting the overall market activity.
ENA expanded on expectations of an ‘Ethena summer’, showing increased trust in DeFi during the 2025 bull market. The project has also shown it is capable of deflating in a controllable manner during market corrections, without causing outsized contagion.
Currently, USDe is in demand for its average APY of 8.85%, which would be possible only during favorable conditions for ETH. The general ETH bullishness is the main factor behind Ethena’s success. In early July, the APY was lower at 3.51%, as the ETH rally was still in its early stages. USDe is still only backed by Ethena’s market conditions, and may be open to liquidations. In this scenario, Ethena will have to reduce the supply again.
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