Ethena, the firm behind the creation of the synthetic stablecoin USDe, has successfully raised a significant $100 million in funding to develop a similar token aimed at conventional financial institutions, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday.
The investment round was finalized in December, with renowned investors such as Franklin Templeton and Fidelity Investments-affiliated F-Prime Capital leading the charge, as per an anonymous source cited in the report.
In a blog post released in January, Ethena’s founder Guy Young stated that the company is gearing up to launch iUSDe, a novel token specifically designed for regulated financial entities.
Unlike other tokens, the synthetic stablecoin USDe is not backed 1:1 by fiat assets. Instead, it achieves its peg by collateralizing other stablecoins and establishing futures positions with significant open interest.
This month, USDe’s market cap has soared to approximately $6 billion, making it the third-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, valued at $142 billion and $57 billion, respectively.
Some analysts perceive USDe as a potential safe haven during periods of high volatility in the broader cryptocurrency market. Arthur Hayes, the CIO of Maelstrom, has noted that the digital asset fund has inflated its exposure to USDe to “record levels”.
“We will be ready with ample dry powder to buy the dip on Bitcoin,” said Hayes, an investor in and advisor to Ethena.
Ethena, however, has not yet responded to CoinDesk’s request for comment on the $100 million funding round.
Related Article: Peter Thiel-Backed Plasma Secures $20M to Build Bitcoin-Based Network for Stablecoin
