Ethena takes USDe basis trade into tokenized US equities
Ethena has added tokenized U.S. equities and equity perpetual futures to the basis trading strategy used for part of USDes backing, taking a funding model previously centered on crypto markets into listed stocks. SummaryEthena will use Binance bStocks as tokenized spot collateral and equity perpetual futures as the hedge for part of USDes backing strategy.The move takes Ethenas delta neutral basis trade beyond crypto assets after its Risk Committee approved a framework for tokenized equities.Binance has more than $2.9 billion in equity perpetual open interest, while the equity basis has averaged 3.56% annualized over the past six months.Ethena expects the opportunity in equity perpetual markets to eventually become significantly larger than the crypto perpetual market. According to a statement shared with crypto.media, Ethena will use Binances bStocks as the spot side of the trade while taking offsetting positions through equity perpetual futures on the exchange. The structure follows a framework previously approved by the Ethena Risk Committee for adding tokenized equity basis trades to the protocols allocation strategy. Ethena has historically used a delta neutral approach in crypto markets, pairing asset exposure with derivatives positions intended to hedge movements in the underlying asset. Under the new setup, bStocks will provide tokenized equity exposure while
