Ethena's Fastest-Growing Stablecoin Now Challenges Tether and Circle

StablecoinX has secured an additional $530 million in funding, increasing its total commitments to $890 million ahead of a planned merger with TLGY Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company. The merged entity, to be renamed StablecoinX Inc., is expected to manage over three billion ENA tokens, the native token of the Ethena ecosystem. The merger is slated to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the new company’s class A common shares listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol USDE [1]. The funding round attracted both new and returning institutional investors, including YZi Labs, Brevan Howard, Susquehanna Crypto, and IMC Trading, as well as existing backers like Dragonfly, ParaFi Capital, Maven11, and Haun Ventures [2].

A portion of the proceeds from this round will be used to acquire discounted ENA tokens through a subsidiary of Ethena. This move is part of a broader strategy to increase ENA liquidity and support the ecosystem’s long-term sustainability. Marc Piano, director at the Ethena Foundation, emphasized that the additional capital will strengthen the Ethena ecosystem’s resilience and support the growth of its stablecoins, including USDe and USDtb [2]. The announcement follows a July funding round that included a $360 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) and a $260 million buyback program, bringing total buybacks to $570 million [1].

The Ethena ecosystem has seen rapid growth, with USDe, its synthetic dollar stablecoin, becoming the fastest-growing stablecoin by supply. Launched in early 2024, USDe reached $12.6 billion in supply within ten months—far outpacing the growth timelines of both Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC [2]. Token Terminal data shows a 31% increase in USDe supply over the past month, making Ethena the third-largest stablecoin issuer, trailing only Tether and Circle [1]. Additionally, the Ethena protocol has generated over $500 million in cumulative revenue as of August 2025, with recent weekly earnings exceeding $13 million [2].

The Ethena Foundation is also developing USDtb, a fiat-backed stablecoin that is being built under the compliance framework of the recently enacted GENIUS Act, signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 18, 2025. The act is expected to provide a clearer regulatory pathway for stablecoin issuers and support the broader adoption of dollar-pegged digital assets [2]. The foundation has also announced plans to establish an advisory board to guide ecosystem alignment, governance, and partnerships, with Rob Hadick, a general partner at Dragonfly, set to chair the board [1].

StablecoinX has also taken steps to reinforce its long-term strategy by forming governance and operational frameworks that align with its goals of expanding the Ethena ecosystem. Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs and advisor to StablecoinX, highlighted that the merger and Nasdaq listing would mark a significant milestone in the stablecoin industry and support the ecosystem’s global expansion [1]. The broader stablecoin market is also showing signs of growth, with Binance Research noting that demand for USDe is being driven by both its yield-generating hedging model and its ability to maintain a stable peg to the U.S. dollar [2].

Source:

[1] StablecoinX moves ahead with $890M Ethena treasury (https://www.mitrade.com/insights/news/live-news/article-3-1101506-20250906)

[2] StablecoinX expands financing to $890M for Ethena's ENA (https://cointelegraph.com/news/tlgy-and-stablecoinx-secure-530m-pipe-as-ethena-s-usde-becomes-fastest-stablecoin-to-10b-supply)