Ethena is preparing to bring its crypto-based dollar products into everyday financial use. The project has launched Ethena Pay, an app that combines savings, card spending and international money transfers.
Ethena Pay went live on Apple’s App Store on Tuesday, September 1. The company describes the product as an “internet money neobank,” offering a 6% dollar savings yield and 5% cashback on card purchases.
Following the announcement, Ethena’s native token ENA rose by around 9%. The token outperformed the broader crypto market, which remained largely flat.
What services does Ethena Pay offer?
Ethena Pay aims to make stablecoin usage feel closer to a traditional bank account. Users can save dollars, make card payments and send international money transfers through the same app.
The platform also supports free fiat onramps for the US dollar, British pound and euro. Local currencies and IBANs connected to self-custodial stablecoin accounts are also among the available features.
This could reduce the need for users to constantly move funds between a crypto wallet, exchange and bank account before making payments. Ethena aims to connect its savings products directly with payment infrastructure.
Ethena Pay also includes a feature called “Buy Now Pay Never.” The system is designed to use returns generated from a user’s savings to cover purchases without drawing down the principal.
Avalanche to power Ethena Pay settlements
Ethena selected Avalanche as the payment and settlement infrastructure for the app. The AVAX network will handle money movements, transfers, payments and transaction settlements within Ethena Pay.
Avalanche will therefore serve as the exclusive settlement network for Ethena Pay. The decision also marks a notable shift from the largely Ethereum-centered infrastructure that supported much of Ethena’s earlier growth.
Ethena Pay is not yet available to a broad user base. Only 400 early-access users will be able to use the app during the initial phase.
Ethena plans to increase the number of users each week. The app is expected to gradually move out of beta throughout September.
Ethena expands beyond USDe
USDe has so far remained at the center of Ethena’s growth strategy. The synthetic dollar, with a market size of around $4 billion, gained prominence largely through yields generated from crypto basis trade strategies.
However, the project has recently started diversifying its sources of returns. Last week, Ethena introduced changes to ENA token economics and outlined plans to use equity perpetual futures as another source of yield for USDe.
Earlier this year, the company also introduced a savings product with Coinbase. The partnership opened another distribution channel for Ethena’s dollar products through Coinbase’s large user base.
Ethena Pay now extends this strategy from savings into everyday spending. If the product scales as planned, Ethena could evolve beyond its USDe-centered DeFi model into a platform offering financial services directly to consumers.
