YZi’s Ethena Stake: Synthetic Stablecoin’s Yield Innovation Drives $14B Surge

YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, has expanded its stake in Ethena Labs as the synthetic dollar stablecoin USDe achieves a total value locked (TVL) of over $14.1 billion, marking a significant milestone in the digital asset’s growthtitle1^[1]. The investment aims to accelerate USDe’s integration across centralized and decentralized finance platforms, expand its utility on the BNB Chain, and support the development of new products such as USDtb—a fiat-backed stablecoin pursuing compliance with the U.S. GENIUS Act—and Converge, an institutional settlement layer co-developed with Securitize and BlackRock tokenization partnerstitle2^[2].

USDe, now the third-largest USD-denominated stablecoin by market capitalization, has seen rapid adoption, surpassing $14 billion in TVL within a year of its public launchtitle3^[3]. The stablecoin’s growth has been driven by its crypto-native synthetic dollar model, which employs delta-neutral hedging to maintain stability while generating yield for holderstitle4^[4]. Ethena’s TVL growth reflects strong institutional and retail demand, with over 6.09 billion USDe staked and daily protocol fees exceeding $13.34 milliontitle5^[5].

The partnership with YZi Labs aligns with broader institutional interest in synthetic stablecoins, which offer advantages over traditional fiat-backed alternatives by leveraging crypto-native mechanisms for yield generation. Ethena’s expansion onto the BNB Chain in April 2025 further underscores its strategic focus on cross-chain adoption, with Binance’s integration of USDe as a spot trading pair and collateral asset amplifying its utilitytitle6^[6]. YZi’s investment director, Nicola Wang, highlighted Ethena’s innovative approach to stablecoin design as a key factor in the firm’s renewed commitmenttitle7^[7].

Despite regulatory headwinds, including a European market exit following pressure from Germany’s BaFin, Ethena has demonstrated operational resilience by relocating operations to the British Virgin Islandstitle8^[8]. The protocol’s compliance with the GENIUS Act and its collaboration with BlackRock on USDtb aim to address regulatory uncertainties and position USDe for broader institutional adoptiontitle9^[9]. Meanwhile, the development of Converge, designed to facilitate on-chain settlement of real-world assets (RWAs), highlights Ethena’s ambition to bridge traditional and decentralized financetitle10^[10].

Analysts project continued growth for Ethena, with some forecasting a $31.2 million annualized revenue run rate and a total protocol fee approach to $900 million by year-endtitle11^[11]. The expansion of USDe’s ecosystem, coupled with YZi’s strategic backing, positions Ethena to play a pivotal role in the evolving stablecoin landscape, particularly as global adoption of digital dollars acceleratestitle12^[12].