Ethena Pay launches 6% savings app as stablecoins move into banking

Ethena's new consumer app packages its $4 billion USDe stablecoin into savings, card spending and transfers — a step beyond the yield trade that built it.

Ethena launched Ethena Pay, a consumer finance app offering a 6 percent dollar savings rate and 5 percent card cashback, on Tuesday as its ENA token rallied 9 percent. The app, live on Apple's App Store, combines dollar savings, card spending, international transfers and fiat onramps in one self-custodial account.

"Financial services today remain fragmented between fiat and crypto ecosystems," Guy Young, founder and chief executive of Ethena, said. The app was designed to bring crypto into everyday financial activity, he said.

Ethena Pay runs on Avalanche as its exclusive settlement network, handling money movement, transfers and payments. Users hold USDe as a dollar balance, receive fiat through international bank account numbers and send funds to external accounts in local currency. The app offers three tiers: Standard is free, while Pro and VIP require locking $2,000 or $10,000 of ENA tokens. Standard users earn 5 percent on balances up to $5,000; Pro and VIP earn 6 percent on up to $15,000 and $50,000. Card cashback runs 4 percent to 5 percent, paid in AVAX tokens, with higher rates at brands including Uber and Spotify.

The rollout extends Ethena beyond the crypto basis trade that powered yield on USDe, its $4 billion synthetic dollar token. Unlike fiat-backed stablecoins such as Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, USDe uses a portfolio of backing assets and derivatives positions designed to offset changes in their value and hold its dollar peg. Last week the project overhauled ENA token economics and outlined plans to use equity perpetuals as another source of returns. Earlier this year it introduced a savings product with Coinbase, opening a distribution channel through an exchange with more than 100 million users.

Ethena Pay starts with 400 early-access users and plans to expand weekly as the product exits beta during September. The United States and European Union are not in the initial rollout, which covers 48 countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and Japan. German regulator BaFin ordered Ethena GmbH to wind up its USDe business in June 2025 after the company withdrew its application under European Union crypto rules.

USDe's circulating supply stands near $4 billion, down from a peak of about $15 billion in September 2025, according to DefiLlama. Whether the savings and cashback stack can reverse that decline — and pull ENA holders into the app — will hinge on how quickly the beta reaches the US and EU markets, where the largest stablecoin demand sits.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.