Ethena Backs USDe With Tokenized Stocks And Shorted Futures
Ethena (ENA)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
Startupfortune.com reports that Ethena Labs has begun backing part of its USDe stablecoin with tokenized U.S. stocks for the first time. The protocol utilizes Binance's bStocks as the spot leg of a basis trade while shorting equity perpetual futures to hedge price risk. Founder Guy Young described this as the most significant expansion of USDe's funding mechanism since the token launched.
This move targets a real-world asset market valued above $150 trillion, far larger than the $2.5 trillion crypto market. Ethena holds tokenized shares issued by BTech Holdings Limited, which can be converted into underlying securities. The strategy aims to generate yield from equity funding rates rather than relying solely on crypto speculation.
Open interest in Binance's equity perpetuals has exceeded $2.9 billion, compounding at roughly 105% monthly through 2026. The protocol cites an 11%-plus six-month average yield, though Kairos Research noted approved names ran around 7% in August. This diversification adds equity risk to a model that already depends on positive funding rates and exchange stability.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ENA, measured when this story was written up on 27 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows ENA trading at $0.2696 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 49.5%, indicating near-even market participation. Shorter timeframes show slightly weaker buying pressure, with the 1-hour buy ratio at 46.2% and the 4-hour ratio at 47.8%. Volume delta has been negative across all periods, totaling -$718,776 over 24 hours. This negative delta means sellers have absorbed more volume than buyers, pushing the cumulative volume delta to -$2,647,106 by the close. The 24-hour spot volume reached $77,584,469 across 475,683 trades. Buying pressure appears to be fading as the 1-hour ratio drops below the daily average, suggesting immediate sellers are dominating recent flow.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.0% sits at the 67th percentile of the last 323 days, against a median of 49.0% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ENA, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, ENA saw a 32.0% price increase with a 7-day average buy ratio of 49.5%. Today's 24-hour buy ratio matches this weekly average exactly, showing no deviation in participant behavior. However, today's volume of $77,584,469 represents 0.95x the weekly average, indicating slightly lower activity than usual. While the price surge was substantial, today's flow is ordinary compared to the weekly norm. The weekly volume delta of -$9,025,846 contrasts with today's smaller -$718,776, showing reduced selling pressure relative to the recent trend.