The Rise and Challenges of USDe Stablecoin

Recently, a new stablecoin star has emerged in the cryptocurrency market - USDe. This synthetic stablecoin launched by Ethena Labs quickly gained popularity with its design of "no fiat currency support," and its market capitalization once exceeded 8 billion USD, becoming a representative of high-yield dollars in the DeFi space.

Recently, USDe partnered with a lending platform to launch a staking activity with an annualized return rate close to 50%. On the surface, it seems like a common incentive strategy, but behind it may lie the structural liquidity pressure that the USDe model faces during a bull market.

Introduction to USDe and sUSDe

USDe is a synthetic stablecoin based on a native encryption mechanism, designed to avoid reliance on traditional banking systems. Its core mechanism is a "delta-neutral" structure: the protocol holds positions in assets such as ETH on one hand, and simultaneously opens equivalent perpetual short positions in ETH on derivative trading platforms, achieving price stability through the hedging combination.

sUSDe is a representative token obtained by users after staking USDe, which has the characteristic of automatically accumulating returns. Its returns mainly come from the funding rate returns of ETH perpetual contracts and the derivative returns of the underlying staked assets.

The Mechanism Behind High Returns

The recently launched "Liquid Leverage" feature requires users to deposit sUSDe and USDe into a certain lending protocol at a 1:1 ratio, forming a compound staking structure. Participants can gain triple returns: incentivized USDe rewards, protocol earnings represented by sUSDe, and the base deposit interest from the lending platform.

Potential Risk Analysis

Although USDe is currently performing stable, its hedging model still has potential vulnerabilities:

1. A negative funding rate may lead to a decline or even an inversion in protocol yields.
2. After the incentive ends, an additional 12% return will disappear directly.
3. In extreme market conditions, users' net earnings may be completely eroded or even turn negative.

Challenges Brought by the Rise in ETH Price

The stability mechanism of USDe relies on the spot staking of ETH assets and derivatives hedging. During rapid increases in ETH prices, the structure of the capital pool faces systemic pressure from liquidity withdrawal. Users may be inclined to redeem staked assets early to realize profits, leading to a chain reaction of "ETH bull market → LST outflow → USDe contraction."

Conclusion

The current annualized returns of up to 50% are not the norm, but rather the result of multiple external incentives. Once risk factors such as high volatility in ETH prices, the termination of incentives, and negative funding rates are concentrated and released, the USDe model may face severe challenges. Whether USDe can truly become the "third pole of stablecoins" depends on whether it can establish sufficient structural resilience before the end of the incentives.