Ethena Labs Deploys USDe and sUSDe On BNB Chain

Background and implementation

Ethena Labs, known for its USDe product – a “synthetic dollar” that is not directly pegged to fiat but is based on ETH staking and yield mining from the derivatives market, has expanded its reach to BNB Chain. USDe and its staking version, sUSDe, have now been integrated into leading DeFi protocols on BNB Chain, including PancakeSwap (the largest DEX), Venus Protocol (a decentralized money market), and Pendle (a yield management platform).

According to the post, USDe and sUSDe have officially been operating on BNB Chain since April 4, 2025, allowing users to perform operations such as swapping, lending, and saving through partner protocols. This is supported by Stargate Finance's bridge interface, while providing official token contracts to ensure user safety and avoid risks from fake contracts.

The launch follows a series of elaborate preparations, including the establishment of trading pairs such as USDe/USDT and sUSDe/USDe on PancakeSwap, where users can earn up to 30x Ethena rewards, along with CAKE rewards and trading fees from liquidity pools. On Venus Protocol, sUSDe and USDe are awaiting final approval from the community to become collateral assets, while Pendle opens up the opportunity to speculate on floating or fixed interest rates, offering additional attractive benefits such as 30x rewards for liquidity providers.

Event Highlights

The deployment of USDe and sUSDe on BNB Chain brings several key highlights:

• Expanding Reach: BNB Chain, with millions of daily active addresses and a thriving ecosystem, is one of the largest blockchain platforms for smart contracts, behind only Ethereum and Solana. Bringing USDe and sUSDe to BNB Chain allows Ethena to reach a large number of users and developers, while taking advantage of the low transaction costs and high performance of the network.

• Integration with leading DeFi: Collaborations with protocols such as PancakeSwap, Venus Protocol, and Pendle not only enhance the liquidity of USDe and sUSDe, but also open up opportunities for attractive returns through yield farming and staking programs. For example, users providing liquidity for pairs on PancakeSwap can receive 30x Ethena rewards, while sUSDe deposits on Venus Protocol offer 5x rewards and USDe offers 20x.

• Risks and Opportunities: Despite the high yields, large rewards like 30x also raise questions about long-term sustainability, especially when the DeFi market has seen many projects fail due to unviable incentive models. However, Ethena has built the USDe mechanism based on a "cash-and-carry" strategy, combining ETH staking and yield mining from the derivatives market, which helps to minimize risks from the traditional banking system but still faces counterparty risks from derivatives exchanges and staking protocols.

Implications for ETHENE and the DeFi Ecosystem

This event is not only a major milestone for Ethena Labs but also has great significance for the entire DeFi ecosystem. Ethena has demonstrated its scalability by bringing USDe – a product considered a “decentralized stablecoin” – to a major blockchain like BNB Chain. This strengthens Ethena’s position in the race to compete with major stablecoins like USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle), which have expanded to many other blockchains like Solana, Polygon, and Arbitrum.

In addition, this event comes in the context of Ethena receiving great attention from financial institutions. In March 2025, Ethena announced a partnership with Securitize to build the Converge blockchain, aiming at tokenizing real-world assets and DeFi for institutions. The deployment on BNB Chain could be a stepping stone for Ethena to attract more capital from institutional investors and expand into new areas.

Technically, BNB Chain – with its low transaction fees and fast processing speed – is an ideal platform to deploy DeFi products like USDe and sUSDe. This not only reduces costs for users but also increases accessibility for newcomers to the crypto market who may be discouraged by high transaction fees on Ethereum.