USDe has set a brand new business document by hitting $10 billion in complete worth locked (TVL) in simply 500 days, making it the quickest stablecoin in historical past to achieve that milestone.
The protocol behind USDe, Ethena Labs, posted:
“everybody desires to know what we’d say if we didn’t attain $10b provide
i assume we’ll by no means know”
The GENIUS behind the rise of USDe
USDe’s speedy climb has coincided with the passing of the GENIUS Act, the Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, which represents the primary complete federal framework for stablecoins in america.
Enacted on July 18, 2025, it imposes strict new guidelines on issuers, together with 1:1 reserve necessities in low-risk belongings, sturdy federal oversight for giant issuers, and powerful client protections comparable to precedence compensation rights within the occasion of failure.
Essentially the most impactful provision of the ACT, nevertheless, and the catalyst behind the rise of USDe, is the prohibition on regulated issuers paying yields on stablecoins, as CoinFund president Chris Perkins instructed CryptoSlate:
“Below GENIUS, stablecoins don’t pay curiosity to finish customers, and with out curiosity, stablecoins are depreciating belongings. So, holders will search yield. And that’s the place DeFi is available in. If the Treasury Division’s projections are appropriate and trillions of stablecoins come into the system, count on DeFi summer time on steroids as customers search to maximise yield by participating throughout a wide range of yield methods. Customers will likely be drawn to yield-bearing vaults, and they’ll fee AI brokers to optimize their returns.”
This ban on yield funds is inflicting a profound realignment within the stablecoin market. Capital that after flowed to conventional, yield-paying stablecoins comparable to USDC has been in search of alternate options, and far of it has landed with USDe. As outstanding crypto dealer, Cas Abbé, identified:
“The explanation behind this progress is GENIUS Act approval, which prohibit issuers to offer yields on stablecoins.
As a result of this, huge cash has now shifted to $USDe which supplies profitable yield.”
DeFi yield alternatives gas demand
Ethena Labs has been in a position to appeal to this demand because of continued yield choices by way of decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanisms, which fall outdoors the restrictions positioned on federally supervised issuers. The result’s an enormous influx of institutional and retail capital, propelling USDe previous a lot of its rivals. The ENA governance token has additionally skilled a worth appreciation of over 100% previously month.
USDe’s $10 billion milestone is a testomony to how dramatically the GENIUS Act has reshaped the stablecoin panorama. Whereas the legislation tightens controls and imposes new safeguards, it has additionally created alternatives for nimble, DeFi-native protocols to seize yield-hungry capital, proving that regulatory shifts don’t need to stifle innovation.