- Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Ethena’s ENA token on 30 September with a US$2 forecast for the end of 2028, about seven times the US$0.28 price cited in its note.
- The bank estimates the supply of Ethena’s USDe stablecoin could reach US$40 billion by end-2028.
- Ethena’s governance rules start ENA buybacks only once USDe supply hits US$7.5 billion, and CoinGecko showed about 4.87 billion USDe in circulation on Thursday.
Standard Chartered began research coverage of Ethena (ENA) on Wednesday, forecasting the token will reach US$2 (AU$2.88) by the end of 2028.
That target is about seven times the US$0.28 (AU$0.40) price cited in the bank’s note, dated 30 September. The bank’s year-end forecasts put ENA at US$0.42 (AU$0.60) for 2026 and US$1.10 (AU$1.58) for 2027. ENA traded near US$0.27 (AU$0.39) on Thursday, according to CoinGecko.
The bank said ENA’s gain would outpace its projected price gains for Bitcoin and Ether. It opened coverage of Aave with a US$3,500 (AU$5,040) target for 2030 in June and Morpho at US$60 (AU$86) by the end of 2030 in July.
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USDe Carries the Forecast
The bank’s case rests on USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar. It estimates USDe outstanding could reach US$40 billion (AU$57.6 billion) by end-2028.
Standard Chartered ranks Ethena as the fourth-largest stablecoin issuer, behind Tether, Circle and Sky. It says USDe, launched in late 2023, was the fastest stablecoin to reach a US$10 billion (AU$14.4 billion) market value.
USDe first earned its yield from the crypto basis trade, holding spot tokens against short perpetual futures. That trade paid more than 20% at times, the note says. Ethena has since added real-world assets and basis trades on equity perpetuals to the backing. The bank expects tokenised real-world assets on blockchains to reach US$2 trillion (AU$2.88 trillion) by end-2028.
Ethena posted the note’s first page on X on Wednesday, reading the forecast as roughly eightfold USDe growth in two years.
Unclear why they are so bearish, but worth a read regardless.
Ethena In an 27 August governance post, Ethena Labs said it sees room to grow USDe above US$100 billion (AU$144 billion) within five years.
Read more: Michael Saylor Calls for a “Bill of Digital Rights” to Protect Crypto Freedoms
Buybacks Wait on a Milestone
The note says Ethena has started a buyback-and-burn programme that will direct 95% of net revenue to ENA. The bank expects those buybacks to become significant as USDe scales.
Under Ethena’s governance proposal, buybacks begin only when USDe circulating supply reaches a first milestone of US$7.5 billion (AU$10.8 billion). CoinGecko showed about 4.87 billion USDe in circulation on Thursday.
The share of protocol revenue directed to buybacks starts at 5% at that milestone and rises to 25% once supply reaches US$25 billion (AU$36 billion). That schedule passed a tokenholder vote, Ethena’s governance forum confirmed on 8 September.
SEC staff addressed token buybacks in a 25 September FAQ, saying a buyback alone does not make a working network’s token a security.
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