Ethena's native token ENA has soared by approximately 160% over the past month, reaching $0.67, driven by three primary catalysts. First, major exchange listings including Upbit's introduction of ENA/KRW, ENA/BTC, and ENA/USDT pairs followed earlier support from Binance, Kraken, KuCoin, and Bybit. Coinbase also added ENA to its listing roadmap, enhancing accessibility and liquidity.
Second, Ethena's synthetic dollar USDe saw its market capitalization surge from $5.3 billion to $8.4 billion in July. Unlike traditional stablecoins, USDe uses delta-neutral hedging instead of fiat collateralization, attracting DeFi users with its capital efficiency.
Third, whales accumulated 80 million ENA tokens ($53 million) in one week, reducing market supply and signaling strong confidence. Analysts are divided on sustainability: McKenna cites ENA's "best looking chart in DeFi" and potential to reclaim $1+ levels, while Reetika cautions dependence on Ethereum's performance and advises waiting for dips. However, 140 million ENA tokens unlocking within seven days risk triggering a pullback if demand falters.
Concurrently, Ethena's Total Value Locked (TVL) surpassed $8 billion, fueled by a 50% user-activity spike. The $0.60 price level now serves as a critical psychological threshold; holding it could propel ENA toward $0.75, while failure may drop it to $0.52.