Glossary
USDe
Ethena's synthetic dollar — backed by delta-neutral ETH (or BTC) positions, with the perpetual-short funding rate providing the yield (sUSDe).
USDe, issued by Ethena since 2024, is not collateralized by fiat or by over-collateralized crypto. Each USDe is backed by an ETH (or BTC) spot position fully hedged by a perpetual short — a delta-neutral position whose dollar value is approximately stable.
The yield earned on the perp short (positive funding) is paid to sUSDe stakers as the "Internet Bond". The design rapidly became one of the largest stablecoin deployments by TVL, with the obvious caveat that the yield depends on persistently positive funding, which is not guaranteed.