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ENA holders eye potential yields over 5% as Ethena confirms fee switch thresholds met Liam 'Akiba' Wright · 6 seconds ago · 3 min read
Run-rate projections show scenarios ranging from 2 to 30 percent APR on staked ENA.
3 min read
Updated: Sep. 16, 2025 at 9:20 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Ethena said it expects to activate the ENA fee switch, pending final implementation approval by its Risk Committee and a tokenholder vote, after the pre-set parameters were met.
Those parameters, agreed in late 2024, require USDe supply above 6 billion, lifetime protocol revenue above 250 million, and USDe integration on four of the top five centralized derivatives venues.
The Foundation plans to publish implementation details before submitting a framework to ENA holders for confirmation via vote, per the group’s official communications.
Thresholds track core protocol economics.
USDe revenue is driven by futures funding and basis, while sUSDe distributes part of that to holders. In its latest monthly update, Ethena reported USDe supply at 12.1 billion, a 30-day sUSDe APY of 8.54 percent, a reserve fund of about 62 million consolidated into USDtb, and distribution progress with three of five top centralized exchanges integrated and two remaining.
The update also flagged September Pendle principal token maturities and ongoing hedging on major venues. Per the Foundation’s August governance report, these items are now tracked as activation inputs and risk checks, including an APY spread versus a benchmark and reserve fund sizing.
What the switch could look like remains open by design. The fee-switch parameters specify that distributions to sENA may use non-cash methods if direct revenue sharing is operationally or legally suboptimal, and explicitly sequence activation after the success metrics and risk checks are satisfied.
| $400M | 10% | $40M | 2.5% | 1.5% | 1.1% |
| $400M | 25% | $100M | 6.2% | 3.7% | 2.7% |
| $400M | 50% | $200M | 12.5% | 7.5% | 5.3% |
| $700M | 10% | $70M | 4.4% | 2.6% | 1.9% |
| $700M | 25% | $175M | 10.9% | 6.5% | 4.7% |
| $700M | 50% | $350M | 21.8% | 13.1% | 9.3% |
| $1,000M | 10% | $100M | 6.2% | 3.7% | 2.7% |
| $1,000M | 25% | $250M | 15.6% | 9.3% | 6.7% |
| $1,000M | 50% | $500M | 31.2% | 18.7% | 13.4% |
Method: APR = Annual fee pool ÷ dollar value of staked ENA.
Assumptions: ENA market capitalization ≈ $5.35B at calculation time; fee pool equals revenue × fee-share to ENA; stake participation scenarios at 30%, 50%, and 70% of circulating ENA.
Figures are illustrative and exclude costs or implementation frictions.
That flexibility gives ENA governance room to calibrate size, cadence, and mechanics based on market conditions, legal advice, and reserve adequacy.
Distribution readiness also depends on exchange penetration
Binance listed USDe spot pairs on Sept. 9, a step that supports Ethena’s “four of five” adoption condition cited in the governance report. The Foundation’s update notes that USDe is accepted as collateral across dominant derivatives venues used in Ethena’s hedge program, improving basis capture and redemption pathways.
The vote will ask ENA holders to ratify implementation specifics after the Risk Committee sign-off. The governance forum lays out the sequencing, with the Risk Committee mandated to assess sUSDe APY spread versus a benchmark and reserve fund adequacy on an ongoing basis before distributions are enabled, and to publish public updates on these assessments. Those roles and the activation gating are documented in the fee-switch framework.
Forward drivers sit in the revenue engine. Positive funding and futures basis lift USDe income, while negative or compressed funding reduces it. Recent market structure has supported Ethena’s model.
In late August, Deribit’s weekly derivatives recap showed BTC funding reaching monthly highs around the mid-month peak, with ETH funding briefly topping 0.03 percent on 8-hour windows before retracing.
A month earlier, the same series noted funding moderating from earlier peaks but remaining positive on average across majors. These conditions, along with the addition of a top venue and deeper collateral acceptance, historically track stronger basis capture for basis-backed stablecoin models.
Cost lines and concentration need monitoring. The August governance update highlights scheduled Pendle PT maturities, which can lead to sUSDe unlocking and tactical flows that temporarily raise redemption activity or change Aave-linked exposures.
The same update lists reserve fund composition and a migration to USDtb for counterparty and liquidity reasons, adding clarity to loss-absorption capacity before any ENA-linked distribution begins.
Macro and policy second axis.
In the United States, the GENIUS Act was signed into law on July 18, establishing a federal regime for payment stablecoins, including OCC licensing for non-bank issuers, one-to-one reserve requirements, and preemption of conflicting state charters on permitted issuers.
In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England signaled it will consult this year on allowing systemic stablecoins to hold a portion of reserves in high-quality liquid assets, with Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden outlining a “multi-money” framework in a September 3 speech.
The policy direction matters for distribution design, given how reserve and custodial rules can affect cash movement, buybacks, or alternative mechanisms ENA governance might consider.
Cross-market context remains constructive. The global stablecoin market value has hovered near record levels in recent weeks, per the DefiLlama stablecoins dashboard, a backdrop that historically correlates with deeper liquidity and tighter spreads.
From here, the gating items are clear: public confirmation of implementation details by the Risk Committee, the Foundation’s publication of the framework, and the ENA holder vote as outlined in the fee-switch parameters and the August governance update.
Ethena says it will publish the final implementation framework, then ask ENA holders to vote.
