Ethena Founder Details Bear Market Strategy, Token Buybacks, and RWA Expansion
Ethena has navigated recent crypto market downturns by using foundation treasury funds to buy back tens of millions of dollars in tokens from early investors. The protocol is now expanding its yield mechanisms into real-world asset perpetuals and launching a consumer neo-banking app on Avalanche.
In a recent interview, the founder of Ethena reflected on the protocol's performance through recent market drawdowns and major industry deleveraging events. Despite severe market cooling and infrastructure challenges, the team reported zero loss of user funds across roughly $30 billion in cumulative mint and redemption volume and $15 billion in peak product size. The core team grew from under 30 to approximately 40 members over the past year, suffering only a single resignation over a three-year period.
To address ongoing market concerns regarding monthly venture capital unlocks and token overhang, Ethena deployed tens of millions of dollars from its foundation treasury to buy out unlocked and unvested tokens from early investors at lower valuation levels. The restructuring removed monthly VC unlocks, kept team allocations locked, and transferred intellectual property from the equity entity directly to the foundation sitting under the token.
Looking ahead, Ethena is expanding its revenue and yield diversification beyond crypto-native funding rates. By integrating basis trades on real-world asset (RWA) perpetuals—such as equities and commodities—the team aims to access a broader market that is less susceptible to four-year crypto downside cycles. Ethena is also expanding its $550 million white-label stablecoin business and rolling out Ethena Pay, a self-custodial consumer neo-banking application built on Avalanche that offers fiat on-ramps, card spending, and integrated yield generation.