{"id":13928,"date":"2026-09-30T21:44:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13928"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:44:47","slug":"standard-chartered-says-ethenas-ena-can-reach-2-by-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=13928","title":{"rendered":"Standard Chartered says Ethena’s ENA can reach $2 by 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Standard Chartered expects Ethena\u2019s ENA token to rise about sevenfold by 2028, provided the protocol can rebuild its shrinking synthetic-dollar business.<\/p>\n

The bank initiated coverage of ENA with a $2 year-end 2028 target, up from about $0.28 currently. It forecasts the token reaching $0.42 at the end of 2026 and $1.10 in 2027 before accelerating further the following year.<\/p>\n

The projection would leave ENA outperforming Standard Chartered\u2019s expected gains for both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the same period. But reaching it requires Ethena to reverse a contraction that has cut USDe supply by more than half from its peak and expand far beyond the scale it has previously achieved.<\/p>\n

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Standard Chartered’s Projected Returns For Ethena, Ethereum and Bitcoin by 2028 (Source: Standard Chartered)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bank\u2019s thesis rests on Ethena finding new sources of yield as returns from its original crypto trading strategy decline, while generating enough revenue from a much larger USDe base to make ENA increasingly valuable to holders.<\/p>\n

Ethena first has to rebuild USDe<\/h2>\n

USDe became one of crypto\u2019s fastest-growing stablecoins after launching in late 2023, exceeding $10 billion as traders piled into a structure that combined long spot crypto positions with short perpetual futures.<\/p>\n

That approach allowed Ethena to capture funding payments while keeping its overall market exposure largely delta-neutral. At times, the strategy generated returns above 20%, helping attract deposits into USDe and its yield-bearing counterpart, sUSDe.<\/p>\n

However, those conditions have since weakened amid the ensuing market contraction.<\/p>\n

As the trade became more crowded and crypto funding rates compressed, USDe supply fell to about $4.9 billion. Standard Chartered estimates Ethena\u2019s blended yield across its strategies is now about 5.2%.<\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s forecast assumes contraction can reverse dramatically. It expects USDe supply to reach $40 billion by 2028, meaning Ethena would first have to regain its previous $10 billion-plus peak and then roughly quadruple again.<\/p>\n

Ethena has responded to lower crypto basis returns by broadening where it generates yield. Its strategies now include DeFi lending, institutional lending, liquid stablecoins and real-world assets, alongside newer basis trades tied to equities and commodities.<\/p>\n

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Related Reading<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethena is targeting the $120 trillion Wall Street stock market to hunt yields 5x higher than Bitcoin<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

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That diversification is central to Standard Chartered\u2019s growth assumptions.<\/p>\n

The bank expects tokenized assets, including stablecoins and other real-world assets, to reach about $4 trillion by the end of 2028 from roughly $350 billion currently. It projects real-world assets deployed on blockchains could rise from about $40 billion to $2 trillion over the same period.<\/p>\n