Coinbase backs Ethena ahead of savings product launch for exchange’s 100 million users
Coinbase Ventures, the exchange’s venture arm, bought Ethena tokens on the open market as the protocol is set to roll out a Coinbase integration next week.
What to know:
- Coinbase Ventures said Tuesday it had backed Ethena by purchasing ENA tokens on the open market.
- Ethena products will become available to Coinbase’s 100 million-plus users through a new service launching next week.
- The protocol also expanded its partnership with Anchorage Digital to support institutional lending activity.
“Excited to partner with Coinbase for the first time to support their dollar savings products,” Ethena founder Guy Young said in a post on X. “The upcoming integration next week will be the first time Ethena products are available for their 100m+ user base.”
As part of the deal, Coinbase said it is already Ethena’s primary custodian, wallet provider and perpetuals venue, while the protocol’s USDe yield token will be distributed on the Base network and the “wider [Coinbase] ecosystem.”
ENA, Ethena’s governance token, surged 20% following the news before paring gains. The token was up 3% over the past 24 hours despite the broader crypto market pullback.
The investment marks a notable endorsement from Coinbase as Ethena seeks to expand beyond crypto-native users. Ethena emerged as one of crypto’s fastest-growing protocols, combining stablecoin demand with derivatives-based funding strategies to provide yield to investors in a token form. Assets on the protocol swelled to $15 billion by the October market peak, but since then declined to $5.3 billion as demand and yields vaned amid the crypto downturn.
