Ethena ($ENA) took its biggest step yet to expand beyond its yield-generating dollar business, introducing a consumer finance app that aims to package stablecoins into something resembling a bank account.
Ethena Pay, which the protocol said went live on Apple's App Store on Tuesday, combines dollar savings, card spending, international transfers and fiat onramps in one app.
The firm is pitching the product as an “internet money neobank,” with a 6% dollar savings rate and 5% cashback on card purchases. It also supports free dollar, pound and euro onramps, local currencies and fiat international bank account numbers (IBANs) linked with self-custodial stablecoin accounts.
$ENA, Ethena’s native token, rallied 9% following the announcement, outperforming flat crypto markets.
The move extends a rapid expansion for Ethena beyond the crypto basis trade that originally powered yield on $USDe (USDE), its $4 billion synthetic dollar token. Last week, the project overhauled the economics of the $ENA token and outlined plans to use equity perpetuals as another source of returns for $USDe.
Earlier this year, Ethena introduced a savings product with Coinbase COIN$182,47·À la clôture, opening another distribution channel for its dollar products through an exchange with more than 100 million users.
From saving to spending
Ethena Pay takes the next step by connecting those savings products to payments. A user could hold savings, earn rewards and then spend or transfer money through the same app rather than moving funds between a crypto wallet, exchange and bank account.
The app also includes a feature Ethena calls "Buy Now Pay Never," designed to use savings rewards to cover purchases without drawing on the user's principal.
The protocol picked Avalanche (AVAX) as the exclusive settlement network for Ethena Pay, another expansion beyond the Ethereum-centered infrastructure associated with much of the project's earlier growth.
Avalanche will handle money movement, transfers, payments and settlement for the product.
Access for Ethena Pay remains limited for now. Ethena is starting with 400 early-access users and plans to increase that number each week as the product moves out of beta during September.