Ethena Prepares New Products for the Market

Ethena Foundation completed a private sale of ENA tokens totaling $100 million. The transaction, carried out in December, included investors

Ethena Foundation, the organization behind the decentralized synthetic stablecoin sUSDe, has raised $100 million in a private sale of ENA tokens.

The sale, which took place in December, saw participation from several notable investors, including Franklin Templeton, Polychain, Pantera, Dragonfly, and F-Prime, the venture capital arm of Fidelity.

The average sale price for the ENA tokens was $0.40, with the tokens currently trading at an average price of $0.42. This marks a significant decline from the December peak of $1.27.

The funds raised from the private sale will be used to support the development of a new blockchain within the Ethena ecosystem and the launch of a new product called iUSDe, which is designed to cater to financial institutions.

Additionally, a portion of the capital was used to buy back tokens from previous investors to adjust the cost basis in the capitalization table.

Ethena has gained widespread recognition in the cryptocurrency industry thanks to sUSDe, which boasts a circulating supply of $5.9 billion.

Now, with iUSDe, the company aims to adapt this model to the world of traditional finance.

Similar to sUSDe, which offers staking rewards to crypto users, this new token also incorporates a wrapper mechanism that enables programmable transfer restrictions.

This feature is designed to facilitate the adoption of iUSDe by investment funds, ETFs, brokers, and other regulated entities that require greater flexibility in managing their assets.

Ethena's standing in the crypto space continues to strengthen. In February 2024, Ethena Labs, the development team behind Ethena, secured $14 million in strategic funding, bringing its valuation to $300 million.

The funding round included participation from Dragonfly and the family office of BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, among others.

With the creation of its own blockchain and a product tailored for institutions, Ethena appears poised to expand its footprint beyond the crypto ecosystem.

iUSDe's compatibility with traditional regulatory frameworks could pave the way for integrating Ethena's infrastructure into the established financial markets.