Stablecoin yield is beginning to move outside crypto.
Ethena, the protocol behind synthetic dollar USDe, said on August 28 that it plans to expand its basis-trading strategy into equity perpetual futures.
The company believes equity perpetual markets are now large and liquid enough to provide a new source of yield for USDe.
More strikingly, Ethena expects real-world-asset perpetuals could eventually surpass crypto derivatives as part of USDe's backing within 12 to 24 months.
If that happens, USDe would become much less dependent on Bitcoin and Ethereum funding markets.
How USDe generates yield
USDe does not operate like a conventional dollar stablecoin backed entirely by cash and Treasury bills.
Ethena uses a delta-neutral structure.
In simplified form, the protocol holds crypto exposure while simultaneously shorting corresponding perpetual futures.
For example:
long ETH
*
short ETH perpetual
≈ reduced directional ETH price exposure.
When leveraged traders pay positive funding to short positions, the hedge generates income.
This basis trade has historically been an important source of USDe yield.
The problem: crypto funding is cyclical
The system works particularly well when crypto traders are aggressively long.
During bull markets, demand for leveraged long positions often pushes perpetual funding positive.
Short positions receive those payments.
During weaker markets, however, funding can compress or even turn negative.
Ethena says average Bitcoin funding fell from about 11% in 2024, to 4.9% in 2025, and only about 2.2% in 2026 through August 11.
That makes USDe's return environment more dependent on the crypto cycle.
Why equity perpetuals look attractive
Equity perpetuals are currently showing different economics.
Open interest has expanded from less than $1 billion in March to approximately $6.2 billion.
Ethena says median equity-perpetual funding has been around 13.9%, compared with roughly 3.9% for Bitcoin.
Funding has also been positive on the overwhelming majority of trading days on major venues tracked by Ethena.
This reflects a structural feature of equities.
Investors often want long exposure to stocks.
If demand for leveraged long exposure stays persistently high, shorts may consistently receive funding.
Why it matters
The most interesting feature may be correlation.
Ethena says equity-perp funding has shown little relationship to Bitcoin funding.
That means USDe could theoretically earn from two different markets:
crypto leverage demand
and
equity leverage demand.
When crypto funding weakens, stock funding may still remain attractive.
That would diversify USDe's revenue base.
This changes the definition of a crypto stablecoin
If the plan scales, the phrase “crypto-backed synthetic dollar” becomes less accurate.
USDe could increasingly derive economics from:
- BTC derivatives;
- ETH derivatives;
- SOL derivatives;
- equity perpetuals;
- institutional lending;
- other RWA markets.
At that point, USDe starts looking more like an onchain multi-market basis fund wrapped in dollar liquidity.
That is a significant evolution.
Why now?
Equity perpetuals have grown rapidly in 2026.
Hyperliquid's HIP-3 markets helped demonstrate demand for crypto-style perpetual exposure to stocks and other non-crypto assets.
Centralized exchanges have followed.
Bybit is now adding options on stock perps.
This ecosystem finally gives Ethena enough liquidity to consider deploying meaningful capital.
The important prerequisite is depth.
A basis strategy supporting billions of dollars cannot rely on tiny experimental markets.
The diversification benefit
If the strategy behaves as expected, it could make Ethena less vulnerable to one specific problem:
crypto bear markets killing funding income.
A diversified yield engine may help stabilize return generation.
That is particularly important after USDe supply fell sharply from its 2025 peak near $15 billion to below $5 billion.
Ethena needs growth.
But it also needs investors to trust that yields are sustainable across different market regimes.
Risks and counterarguments
Diversification does not remove risk.
It changes the risk.
Equity perpetual markets are much younger than traditional equity futures markets.
Potential risks include:
- liquidity fragmentation;
- exchange counterparty exposure;
- market closures in underlying equities while perps trade 24/7;
- oracle/reference-price gaps;
- extreme funding shifts;
- regulatory restrictions.
A stock exchange may be closed while the synthetic perpetual continues trading.
That creates price-discovery challenges during weekends and overnight events.
USDe becomes more complex
This is another important trade-off.
A USDC holder can broadly understand:
reserves consist mostly of cash-like assets.
USDe already requires users to understand derivatives hedging.
Adding equity perps, institutional loans and other RWA strategies makes the backing model even more sophisticated.
Higher capital efficiency comes with harder risk analysis.
What to watch next
Ethena says the first exchange partners and deployments should be announced in the coming weeks.
Watch:
- which venues hold positions;
- equity-perp allocation;
- realized funding returns;
- USDe supply recovery;
- collateral transparency;
- stress behavior during equity-market shocks.
The larger development is worth remembering:
Crypto stablecoins are beginning to harvest yield from markets that are not crypto markets at all.
If Ethena succeeds, stablecoin competition could increasingly become a competition over who can build the most diversified global yield engine.
FAQ
Is USDe backed by stocks?
Not directly. Ethena plans to use equity perpetual basis trades as part of its hedging and yield strategy.
Why use equity perpetuals?
Funding rates have recently been higher and less correlated with crypto funding.
Will equity perps replace crypto backing?
Ethena expects RWA perpetuals could become larger than crypto derivatives in its backing within 12–24 months, but that is a forward-looking company expectation, not a completed transition.
Does this make USDe safer?
Not automatically. It may improve diversification while introducing new market, liquidity and counterparty risks.