Staked USDe (sUSDe) is the yield-bearing version of Ethena's synthetic dollar, USDe. Rather than holding cash or Treasuries, its peg is maintained by a delta-neutral position: spot ETH and BTC collateral hedged with short perpetual futures, with staking and funding rates passed to holders. sUSDe scores 57/100 (Tier 4) on the RWTS Trust Score, our lowest stablecoin tier, because the backing is a market position rather than a hard claim. Yield has compressed from launch highs to single digits, and unstaking carries a seven-day cooldown.
- Issuer / protocol
- Ethena
- Backing
- ETH/BTC collateral + short perp positions (delta-neutral)
- Redemption / lock-up
- 7-day cooldown on unstaking
- Audit & proof of reserves
- Independently audited
- Availability
- Global
- Chain
- Ethereum
- Tier
- Tier 4 — Synthetic & Structured
- Contract
- 0x9D39…b2f4
Scored on the published RWTS methodology (v1.1), reviewed quarterly and on material events. Ratings are independent and never pay-influenced.
Calculations are indicative. Actual yields may vary.
Price data from CoinGecko. Not financial advice.
Current yield of 3.74% sits at 22% of the observed range. There may be room for rates to improve.
Projections assume constant APY of 3.74%. Actual returns may vary. Not financial advice.
Delta-neutral synthetic; Bybit/Binance perp dependency; high yield.
Methodology v1.0 · independent rating · published rubric · no issuer payments
Synthetic dollar mechanism: ETH/BTC collateral held by institutional custodians (Copper, Ceffu, Komainu) paired with short perpetual futures positions to maintain delta neutrality. Collateral mix has matured to include a higher allocation of T-bills for stability. Yield = ETH staking rewards + funding rate spread + T-bill yield. Structural fit for the rubric's synthetic/structured tier.
Monthly third-party attestations on collateral holdings; on-chain visibility into mint/redeem flows; institutional MPC custody with public addresses; combination of regular attestation + on-chain transparency.
sUSDe to USDe via 7-day cooldown unstaking mechanism; USDe redeems via Ethena's direct mint/redeem channel for whitelisted addresses, plus deep secondary market liquidity via Curve and major CEXs. 7-day cooldown is at the rubric short-queue boundary.
Multiple smart contract audits (Spearbit, Trail of Bits, Pashov Audit Group, others); active Immunefi bug bounty; institutional custody operational security standards.
Ethena Labs registered (BVI); Ethena Foundation organisational structure; USDe not available to US persons by design; partially regulated framework with published terms.
Live since Q1 2024 (~26 months as of May 2026). No fund-loss or material incidents in operating history. APY has compressed from a 27% launch peak to ~3.5% current — this reflects market-cycle dynamics (funding rate normalization as crypto markets cooled from bull-phase extremes), supply dilution (large TVL growth shares yield across more participants), reduced leverage demand for shorts to capture, deliberate strategic diversification toward T-bills for yield stability, and protocol-side reserve retention for volatility management. Yield compression is the system working as designed under different market conditions, not a protocol failure.
YIELD_VARIABILITY_FUNDING_RATE_DEPENDENTYield mechanism depends on positive funding rates on perpetual futures plus ETH staking rewards plus T-bill returns. Yield has compressed from launch peak (~27%) to current (~3.5%) due to market-cycle funding rate normalization, TVL growth dilution, reduced leverage demand, and Ethena's strategic shift to higher T-bill allocation. Sustained negative funding rates can further compress yield. No fund-loss events in operating history.
COLLATERAL_CUSTODY_CENTRALIZEDCollateral assets held by regulated institutional MPC custodians (Copper, Ceffu, Komainu). Custody concentration risk is structural to the delta-neutral mechanism.
NON_US_PERSONS_ONLYUSDe and sUSDe are not available to US persons by design.
Caveats document operational realities that don't change the dimensional score but shape practical use.
Beyond sUSDe's own score, two structural questions matter: what is it built on, and what has broken before in this part of the market. A high score in isolation can still carry hidden, shared exposure.
BUIDL redemptions are T+0 to USDC only during US market hours. If that exit window jammed under stress, every product built on BUIDL inherits the same bottleneck at the same moment. A fund built on a top-rated fund still adds a layer of risk, which is exactly why OUSG scores below BUIDL on our methodology.
See the full chain →What this and similar assets are built on, and where contagion could spread.
The depegs, defaults, and exploits that inform the Track Record dimension.
Liquidity read: TVL of $1.92B indicates deep on-chain liquidity. Lock-up: 7-day cooldown on unstaking.