coindesk.com
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ethena, which offers the $1.3 billion $USDe token, unveiled plans Wednesday to debut its governance token by airdropping tokens to users on April 2, according to a blog post.
The protocol is set to airdrop 750 million $ENA tokens, or 5% of the total supply. The campaign to earn "shards," which qualify users for the token airdrop, will end on April 1. Those who unstake, unlock or sell all their $USDe before this date will not be eligible for the airdrop.
Users will be able to claim tokens starting the next day, and $ENA will be listed on centralized exchanges, per the blog post. After the airdrop, Ethena will start a campaign with new incentives for the next phase of the airdrop.
Ethena's $USDe token, often referred to as "synthetic dollar," offers steady yields to investors by using ether ($ETH) liquid staking tokens such as Lido's stETH as backing assets, pairing them with an equal value of short $ETH perpetual futures position on derivatives exchanges to keep a "rough target" of $1 price. This is also known as a "cash and carry" trade, which harvests derivatives funding rates for a yield.
The protocol's $USDe token mushroomed recently, growing to over $1.3 billion from $85 million at the start of the year, per DefiLlama data, propelled by its lofty yield due to frothy crypto markets and in anticipation of the airdrop.
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