Ethena expands USDe backing into Binance bStocks and equity perpetuals

Ethena is adding tokenized U.S. equities and Binance equity perpetuals to the basis trade supporting USDe. Ethena will use bStocks as tokenized spot collateral. Ethena will use Binance equity perpetuals for the hedge. Binance has more than $2.9 billion in equity perpetual open interest. That open interest grew at a compound monthly rate of 105% this year. The equity basis averaged 3.56% annualized over the past six months. The Ethena Risk Committee approved a framework for adding tokenized equity basis trades to the allocation strategy. bStocks represent interests in securities held by BTech Holdings Limited. Users can convert bStocks into the underlying securities on Binance subject to applicable laws. Ethena previously used the delta-neutral strategy across crypto assets. Ethena used derivatives positions to hedge that exposure. Ethena said it expects the equity perpetual opportunity to significantly exceed the crypto perpetual market over time. Guy Young, the founder of Ethena Labs, called the move the most significant expansion of USDe's funding mechanism since its launch. Young said global equities trade in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Young said Ethena sees an opportunity to diversify its backing strategy as more of that market moves onchain. Binance Head of Exchange and Trading Shunyet Jan said bStocks and equity perpetuals were seeing increased adoption. Binance added USDe across its platform last year. Binance previously opened trading in more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds to eligible users outside the U.S. in June. Binance rolled out bStocks later that month. Binance's TradFi perpetual futures generated about $433.4 billion in volume in August. Equity-linked contracts accounted for roughly $342.9 billion of that volume.