Ethena to Introduce Equity‑Perpetual Basis Trades for USDe Backing

Ethena disclosed that it will expand the backing strategy of the USDe synthetic dollar by incorporating equity‑perpetual basis trades. The rollout is slated to begin within the next few weeks, though specific exchange partners and allocation sizes have not been revealed.

Planned Expansion of USDe Backing

The immediate effect for USDe holders is the addition of a new asset class to the backing portfolio, rather than an immediate shift in existing holdings. Details such as the size of the equity allocation, eligible contracts, and risk parameters remain unspecified.

How Equity‑Perpetual Basis Trades Work

According to Ethena’s documentation, volatile assets—including tokenized equities—are typically paired with short futures positions of roughly equal notional value. The spot exposure and the hedge are intended to offset each other’s price movements.

Market Context

Ethena reported that equity perpetual contracts currently hold over $6 billion of open interest across roughly 200 contracts, with average funding rates ranging from 15 % to 20 %.

• Binance’s TSLA/USDT perpetual showed about $41 million of open interest and an eight‑hour funding rate of 0.00436 %.
• Hyperliquid’s ORCL/USDC market displayed about $16.1 million of open interest with a funding rate of 0.0010 %.

Future Outlook

Ethena projects that real‑world‑asset perpetuals could surpass crypto allocations in USDe’s backing within 12 to 24 months.