Synthetic / delta-neutralRank #6
USDeEthena USDe
Ethena Labs
- Market cap
- $4.0B
- Circulating supply
- 4.0B
- Networks
- 1
EIP/ERC standards & compliance
Full USDe profile: ERC-20, permit, proxy patterns, cross-chain, flash loans, and compliance EIPs — with implementation notes and verified contract context.
Overview
Third-largest stablecoin and most technically novel. Achieves dollar peg via delta-neutral hedge — users deposit ETH/BTC collateral while the protocol opens an equal short perpetual futures position. Yield flows from funding rates and ETH staking to sUSDe holders.
Supply by chain
Market cap
$4.0B
Circulating supply
4.0B
Supply chains
28
| Chain | Supply | Market cap | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | 2.7B | $2.7B | 69.2% |
| MegaETH | 441.8M | $442M | 11.1% |
| BSC | 260.1M | $260M | 6.6% |
| TON | 171.8M | $172M | 4.3% |
| Plasma | 126.7M | $127M | 3.2% |
| Mantle | 126.5M | $126M | 3.2% |
| Hyperliquid L1 | 53.4M | $53M | 1.3% |
| Berachain | 29.8M | $30M | 0.75% |
| Solana | 8.5M | $9M | 0.21% |
| Arbitrum | 1.8M | $2M | 0.05% |
| Blast | 920.7K | $920K | 0.02% |
| Tempo | 479.8K | $480K | 0.01% |
| Other tracked chains (16) | 881.4K | $881K | 0.02% |
| Current circulating supply by chain from DeFiLlama. Small supply footprints are grouped after the top 12 chains and may include bridged or non-curated deployments. | |||
Features
Engineering-oriented breakdown of capabilities: standards, who they matter for, integration rationale, per-feature risks, and vetted external references (specs, docs, verified source).
Protocol repo: github.com/ethena-labsPrimary Ethereum verified source: Etherscan
| Feature | Standards | Audience | Why it matters | Risk / caveat | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delta-neutral peg mechanism stability | — | Both | Peg is engineering/economics of hedge + collateral, not bank redemption — model risk from derivatives and custodial workflows. | Stress in funding, basis, or exchange connectivity can break peg assumptions on secondary markets. | |
ERC-4626 vault — sUSDe yield | User | sUSDe accrues yield in vault shares — integrate with standard ERC-4626 preview/deposit/withdraw interfaces. | Cooldowns and slashing-like events are protocol-specific; read StakedUSDe constraints. | ||
Funding rate yield yield | — | User | Yield is not a fixed APY — driven by perp funding; systems displaying yield need live or conservative estimates. | Negative funding can erode returns or stress hedges; CEX dependency matters. | |
ETH staking layer yield yield | — | User | LST yield stacks with funding — understand which LSTs are accepted and oracle treatment. | LST depeg or slashing flows to protocol risk. | |
Off-exchange settlement custody compliance | — | Corporate | Collateral movement uses institutional settlement rails — relevant for risk teams mapping counterparty exposure. | Counterparty and operational failure modes are off-chain; not visible in token contract alone. | |
LayerZero OFT cross-chain cross chain |
| Both | Cross-chain USDe uses OFT — integrate LayerZero endpoints and peer configs like other OFT assets. | Endpoint misconfiguration can cause loss of fungibility across chains. | |
Permissioned mint/redeem compliance | — | Corporate | Primary mint/redeem may be allowlisted — most DeFi users interact via AMM secondary markets instead. | KYC gates change who can arb peg; liquidity path risk for retail. | |
EIP-712 signed mint orders authorization | User | Mint path uses typed structured data signatures — wallets must implement correct EIP-712 domain for Ethena contracts. | Signature bugs are high severity; test on testnets with official domains. |
EIP / ERC support matrix
Standards & compliance support for USDe. Click an EIP to jump to the global deep-dive section.
| Standard | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ||
| ERC-20 Fungible token standard | Implemented | Treat USDe like any ERC-20 for DEX and lending integrations; custody and mint paths are protocol-specific. |
| Signatures & typed data | ||
| EIP-712 Typed structured data signing | Implemented | Builders of mint widgets must implement the minting order schema from Ethena’s contracts — not generic transferWithAuthorization. |
| EIP-2612 Permit — gasless ERC-20 approval | Implemented | Enables single-transaction DeFi flows when paired with permit-aware routers and paymasters. |
| EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization | Not implemented | Payment relayers that depend on EIP-3009 must use permit + transferFrom composition or a wrapper. |
| EIP-1271 Signature validation for smart contracts | Partial | Smart contract wallets (Safe, AA wallets) can mint/redeem USDe directly via EthenaMinting. For token-level permit flows, EOA co-signers or Permit2 are still needed. |
| Upgradeability & proxies | ||
| EIP-1967 Standard proxy storage slots | Not implemented | USDe token logic cannot be changed — similar trust property to DAI. The mint authority (setMinter) can be reassigned by the owner, but ERC-20 transfer logic is fixed. |
| EIP-1822 UUPS — universal upgradeable proxy | Not implemented | No upgrade considerations for the USDe token. Immutability eliminates upgrade risk on the token layer. |
| Vaults & yield | ||
| ERC-4626 Tokenized yield vault standard | Implemented | ERC-4626-aware aggregators can price and route sUSDe like other vault shares; account for cooldown when quoting user exits. |
| Compliance | ||
| Freeze Address freezing / blacklisting | Partial | USDe itself is permissionless to transfer. Compliance restrictions apply only at the sUSDe staking layer. DEX and lending integrations with USDe face no freeze risk, but sUSDe integrations must account for restricted roles. |
| Seize Fund seizure / clawback | Partial | sUSDe balances of restricted addresses can change without the holder's consent via redistributeLockedAmount(). Monitor admin events on sUSDe. Base USDe balances are sovereign. |
| Pause Global transfer pause | Not implemented | USDe and sUSDe transfers are always operational. Minting/redeeming can be halted by the GATEKEEPER, which affects primary market operations but not DEX trading or lending. |
| Cross-chain | ||
| ERC-7802 Crosschain token interface | Alternative | Via LayerZero OFT: LayerZero Omnichain Fungible Token — burn-and-mint via LayerZero endpoints. Provides cross-chain fungibility without the ERC-7802 standardised interface. |
| Flash Loans | ||
| ERC-3156 Flash loans | Not implemented | Flash loans of USDe available through external DeFi protocols that hold USDe liquidity. |
| Data sourced from verified Etherscan contract source code. Implementations may differ across networks — always verify on the specific chain you integrate with. | ||
Technical notes
- 18 decimals.
- EthenaMinting V2 (0xe3490297…, July 2024): EIP-712 signed orders are immutable — Ethena cannot alter user signatures.
- Supports both EIP-712 and EIP-1271 signature types (smart contract wallets can mint).
- Five-role access control: DEFAULT_ADMIN (multisig), GATEKEEPER (3+ internal + 3+ external security firms — can disable but NOT re-enable), MINTER (~20 EOAs), REDEEMER (~20 EOAs), DelegatedSigner.
- sUSDe: dynamic cooldown 1-7 days (max 90), auto-extends if unstake requests exceed 2x 14-day average, 8-hour linear reward vesting (anti-sandwich), two-tier sanctions (SOFT_RESTRICTED cannot deposit/withdraw but can trade; FULL_RESTRICTED + redistributeLockedAmount).
- Custodians: Copper, Ceffu, Fireblocks, Anchorage, Kraken (Jan 2026).
Reserves & peg
- Reserves
- stETH, ETH, BTC, USDC, USDtb plus offsetting short perpetual positions on Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit
- Collateral
- Crypto + derivatives hedge
- Peg mechanism
- Soft — delta-neutral math maintains backing, no guaranteed 1:1 redemption
- Auditor
- Quantstamp, Cyfrin (smart contract audits)
Ecosystem
- DeFi integration
- Major Curve pools (USDe/USDC, USDe/DAI), Aave collateral, Pendle yield-stripping
- Yield
- sUSDe ~5–20% APY variable (funding-rate dependent)
Risk factors
highFunding rate can go negativemediumCEX counterparty riskhighExtreme gap-down liquidationmediumNot classified as payment stablecoin under GENIUS Act
Technical references
Official docs
Ethena USDe
www.ethena.fi
Source code
GitHub repository
ethena-labs
Verified contract · Ethereum
USDe.sol + StakedUSDe.sol (Ethena Labs)
0x4c9E…68B3
Block explorers
Networks & contracts
Deployments by chain — primary rows are highlighted. Always verify addresses against issuer docs before mainnet integrations.
| Network | Standard | Contract | Explorer |
|---|---|---|---|
EthereumPrimary | ERC-20 | 0x4c9EDD5852cd905f086C759E8383e09bff1E68B3Canonical USDe token. OFT deployments on other chains exist — omitted until each address is verified on-chain. | View |
Engineering deep dive
Integration notes
USDe is not a bank-token redeemable 1:1 for USD in your wallet—understand sUSDe accrual, cooldowns, and that peg comes from hedging infrastructure, not a simple reserve account.
Risk surface
Funding and exchange-counterparty assumptions matter for any product built on top; stress-test for negative funding and exchange stress scenarios.