Ethena Labs launched its USDtb stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund while clocking $65 million in total-value-locked (TVL) on the first day.
On Monday, decentralized finance firm Ethena Labs announced the launch of its USDtb stablecoin in collaboration with Securitize and supported by BlackRock’s BUIDL platform. On the first day itself, the stablecoin amassed $65 million in total-value-locked (TVL).
Ethena’s new USDtb stablecoin will operate similarly to Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), being backed by cash or cash equivalents on a 1:1 basis. By design, this stablecoin provides support for holders of Ethena’s flagship product, USDe, during periods of high market volatility. Speaking on the development, the firm said:
“Ethena will be able to close the hedging positions underlying USDe and re-allocate its backing assets to USDtb to further ameliorate related risks.”
José Maria Macedo, co-founder of blockchain research and development firm Delphi Labs, praised the USDtb stablecoin stating that it will become the largest tokenized treasury product within a month of its launch.
Similarly, Ethena’s head of growth, Seraphim Czecker, believes USDtb has the potential to scale to $100 billion. He also added that the firm is efficiently allocating capital in bearish markets while establishing an APY “floor” tied to the T-bill rate.
BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund provides 90% backing to the USDtb stablecoin. Ethena’s committee member, Block Analiticia, said that stablecoins like USDC will provide the remaining 10% backing, as USDtb’s reserves, to ensure additional liquidity during weekends or times when U.S. Treasury bill markets are unavailable.
USDtb Stablecoin to Further Boost Growth of the Ethena Ecosystem
Back in October, the core smart contracts of USDtb stablecoin passed three comprehensive audits by Pashov, Quantstamp, and Cyfrin. These firms reportedly found no high or medium-level issues with the asset.
USDtb was approved by Ethena’s risk committee in late September, though final details were not confirmed until earlier this month.
This launch follows Ethena’s USDe stablecoin surpassing Dai to become the third-largest stablecoin, trailing only USDT USDT $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $144.01 B Vol. 24h: $64.75 B and USDC USDC $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $60.67 B Vol. 24h: $16.15 B . However, with a market cap of $5.87 billion, USDe still lags behind USDT’s $140.6 billion and USDC’s $42.1 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
Amid the strong growth of its ecosystem, Ethena ENA $0.34 24h volatility: 8.7% Market cap: $1.80 B Vol. 24h: $251.49 M price has seen over 100% gains on the monthly chart. As of press time, ENA is trading at $1.15 with a market cap of $3.41 billion and its TVL crossing $6 billion.
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