Ethena (ENA) Soars 7%...Avalanche-Based Neobank Launched

▲ Ethena (ENA)/AI-generated image ©

Ethena (ENA) surged by nearly 7% with the launch of its Avalanche-based neobank, ‘Ethena Pay.’ The all-in-one app, which covers everything from dollar savings to global remittances and card payments, along with measures to reduce the burden of investor token unlocks, contributed to the upward trend.

According to investment media FXStreet on September 2 (local time), Ethena launched Ethena Pay, a self-custody mobile financial application. This service provides dollar savings, borderless remittances, and card payment functions based on Ethena's synthetic dollar USDe balance, and uses Avalanche (AVAX) as the exclusive payment and settlement network for its payment infrastructure.

Users can receive daily dollar savings rewards of up to 6% annually, and eligible card payments offer up to 5% cashback. Cashback is paid in AVAX. It also supports multi-currency savings accounts, including US dollars, British pounds, and euros, as well as fiat on-ramp services. IBAN integration through banking partners and self-custody stablecoin wallets are also included.

Ethena Pay is a non-custodial service, meaning the company does not directly hold customer funds or provide loans. Users can access their wallets via passkeys and biometric authentication and transfer funds to external wallets or supported bank payment networks. Fiat IBAN services are provided by licensed banking partners. A 'Buy Now Pay Never' feature, which offsets daily expenses with savings rewards, has also been introduced, but its availability may vary depending on region and account tier.

The service was first unveiled to 400 early access users in supported regions. It is currently available to iOS users in 48 countries, and Ethena plans to expand user eligibility weekly throughout September. Users in unsupported regions can register for a waiting list. However, due to regulatory and jurisdictional restrictions, spend cards will not be offered to US residents.

The price increase was also influenced by the revised investor token unlock schedule. The Ethena Foundation repurchased locked ENA held by some key early investors and accelerated the unlock schedule for the remaining investor tokens. A governance proposal was also put forward to determine the percentage of protocol revenue allocated to ENA repurchases based on supply criteria. Following the announcement, ENA traded at $0.161, up 6.7% over 24 hours, with its 30-day gain expanding to 83.7%.

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