Ethena, developer of the synthetic stablecoin USDe, has raised $100 million to finance a similar token targeted at traditional financial (TradFi) institutions, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The funding round was completed in December, with Franklin Templeton and Fidelity Investments-affiliated F-Prime Capital among the backers, the report added, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Founder Guy Young said in a blog post in January that Ethena has plans to roll out iUSDe, a token tailored to regulated financial institutions.
Known as a synthetic stablecoin, USDe differs from other tokens in that it is not backed 1:1 by fiat assets. Instead, it maintains its peg by collateralizing stablecoins and taking futures positions with large open interest.
USDe’s market cap has jumped to around $6 billion this month, becoming the third largest stablecoin behind Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, which are worth $142 billion and $57 billion…
