YZi Labs Boosts Ethena Support, USDe Hits $13B TVL

YZi Labs, the investment arm previously known as Binance Labs, has reinforced its commitment to Ethena Labs by increasing its stake and providing long-term strategic support for the protocol behind USDe. This strengthened partnership comes at a pivotal moment as Ethena’s synthetic dollar has become the third-largest USD-denominated crypto asset with a supply exceeding $13 billion. The protocol’s total value locked has simultaneously crossed the $13 billion threshold, underscoring massive demand from both centralized exchanges and decentralized finance platforms.

The rapid ascent of USDe highlights the success of Ethena’s innovative delta-neutral hedging model, which ensures asset stability while generating yield without reliance on traditional banking partners. This crypto-native approach has positioned Ethena as one of the fastest-growing projects in digital finance, capturing significant market share in the competitive stablecoin landscape. Nicola Wang, Investment Director at YZi Labs, emphasized the importance of Ethena’s unique model, noting that the team impressed investors early on with their vision for a yield-bearing digital dollar.

The expanded partnership coincides with Ethena’s accelerated presence on BNB Chain, where the project has been building new money markets, integrating with leading protocols, and establishing fresh ecosystem partnerships since its initial deployment in April. This strategic expansion is expected to make USDe more accessible to global users while strengthening its utility across multiple platforms. Dana Hou, investment partner at YZi Labs, echoed the sentiment that the protocol has become a defining force in the synthetic dollar category.

The BNB Chain integration represents a significant step in Ethena’s broader strategy to increase adoption and interoperability across the crypto ecosystem. By expanding to one of the largest blockchain networks, Ethena positions USDe for continued growth and accessibility, potentially capturing new user bases and use cases that extend beyond its current deployments.

With YZi Labs’ enhanced support, Ethena is diversifying its product range with two groundbreaking initiatives. The USDtb stablecoin is being developed with fiat collateral and full compliance priority, representing a significant shift toward regulatory-friendly digital assets. Simultaneously, the project is actively developing Converge, a settlement layer constructed in collaboration with Securitize and BlackRock-related tokenization firms, designed to bring financial-grade real-world assets onto the blockchain.

Guy Young, CEO of Ethena Labs, articulated the vision behind these developments: ‘The holy grail of digital dollar distribution has always been embedding stable, yield-bearing assets directly into the core of the crypto economy. With USDe now scaling across exchanges, DeFi protocols, and global user bases, that vision is becoming a reality.’ These products represent Ethena’s strategic move to bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain technology, potentially unlocking trillions of dollars in real-world asset tokenization.

For YZi Labs, with global funds exceeding $10 billion and investments covering approximately 300 projects across 25 countries, this enhanced support for Ethena reinforces its position as an influential participant shaping digital finance’s future direction. The combination of Ethena’s technical innovation and YZi Labs’ strategic backing creates a powerful synergy that could redefine how synthetic dollars and stablecoins operate within both crypto and traditional financial ecosystems.