Ethena Debuts Self-Custodial USDe Payments App, Offering Up to 6% Annualized Rewards

Ethena has rolled out Ethena Pay, a self-custodial app designed for payments, savings and cross-border transfers using USDe. The app lets users hold USDe via a dollar-denominated balance, earn annualized rewards of up to 6%, and spend through a payment card. It also supports fiat on-ramps. The beta program spans 48 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and other regions. Initial access is capped at 400 users, with Ethena saying availability will expand on a weekly basis. Avalanche will act as the exclusive settlement layer for Ethena Pay's payments and transfers. Users can deposit either fiat or crypto, which the app converts into USDe. The product also provides IBAN details for moving money to and from external bank accounts in local currencies. MoonPay-owned Iron is supplying the backend infrastructure. Ethena Pay is not available at launch in the U.S., EU, Canada, Taiwan or South Korea. Ethena said it aims to expand into those markets during the beta, subject to regulatory approval. Ethena operates the Ethereum-based protocol behind USDe, a synthetic dollar intended to keep its value close to $1 without relying on traditional banking rails. USDe uses crypto collateral and hedging strategies, including derivatives positions, to support its peg. USDe's market capitalization is about $4.1 billion, according to DefiLlama, which ranks it as the sixth-largest stablecoin. Ethena also issues ENA, its governance token, with a market cap of roughly $1.5 billion. ENA has risen about 68% over the past month but remains well below prior highs. On Friday, the Ethena Foundation proposed allocating 95% of the net revenue it receives from Ethena's core businesses to ENA buybacks once USDe's circulating supply reaches $7.5 billion. ENA jumped more than 10% after the proposal and is up 27% over the week. Over the past 24 hours, ENA posted about $595 million in trading volume, up 16% from the previous day. CoinGecko data showed ENA trading around $0.16 on Tuesday.