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    YZi Labs Increases Investment in Stablecoin Provider Ethena

    Ethan CarterBy No Comments3 Mins Read
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    Tech-centric venture capital firm YZi Labs has boosted its investment in Ethena, the issuer of the stablecoin USDe, which aims to enhance the digital dollar’s integration across both decentralized and centralized platforms.

    This funding will facilitate the growth of Ethena’s USDe on the BNB Chain, while allowing the company to develop its USDtb stablecoin and an institutional settlement layer called “Converge,” as stated by Changpeng Zhao’s YZi Labs on Friday.

    USDtb is secured by short-duration treasury assets, including BlackRock’s BUIDL, whereas Converge is a chain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, focusing on the tokenization of real-world assets.

    This initiative aligns with YZi’s vision to “promote open, scalable digital dollar infrastructures that can serve as the foundation for efficiency and liquidity within the entire financial ecosystem.”

    Guy Young, CEO of Ethena Labs, remarked: “The ultimate goal of distributing digital dollars has always been to integrate stable, yield-bearing assets directly into the foundation of the crypto economy. 

    “With USDe now expanding across exchanges, DeFi platforms, and global users, that vision is coming to fruition.”

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    Source: YZi Labs

    The growth of stablecoin adoption follows the US Treasury’s projection in April that the $295 billion market could surge to $2 trillion by 2028. This momentum was further strengthened in July when US President Trump’s signing of the GENIUS Act was hailed as one of the most comprehensive regulations for stablecoins to date.

    USDe use cases set to grow on BNB Chain

    YZi, previously known as Binance Labs, initially invested in Ethena through its Season 6 Incubation Program in February 2024, ahead of USDe’s public introduction. The synthetic dollar, USDe, is primarily backed by cryptocurrencies and is maintained through a delta-neutral hedging strategy that ensures it remains pegged to $1.

    The extension of USDe on the BNB Chain will build on its deployment in April, with new money markets, protocol integrations, and ecosystem partnerships already in progress, per YZi’s statement.

    Related: ASIC eases licensing regulations for stablecoin distributors in Australia

    Since its launch, USDe has reached a market cap of $14 billion, standing just behind Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC), which are valued at $171.5 billion and $73.9 billion, respectively, as per CoinGecko data. The growing adoption of USDe may enable it to carve out a larger share of the market currently dominated by USDT and USDC, expanding its applications across the crypto landscape.