Binance's New Launchpool Project: What is Ethena Labs

Binance welcomed Ethena Labs to become the 50th project to join its Launchpool program on March 29. 

But what exactly is Ethena Labs? Let's find out.

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Understanding Ethena Labs

Ethena is a synthetic dollar and internet-native yield platform built on Ethereum. At the core of Ethena's ethos lies USDe, a synthetic dollar designed to promote stability and scalability within the DeFi ecosystem. 

Ethena Labs utilizes delta-hedging against Ethereum collateral to maintain USDe's peg, reportedly providing users with a censorship-resistant, scalable, and stable crypto-native solution.

Moreover, Ethena introduced the concept of the 'Internet Bond,' an instrument facilitating yield opportunities through staking and derivatives. This approach diversifies revenue streams and enhances accessibility to dollar-denominated savings instruments on a global scale.

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The Role of ENA Token

Ethena's native token, ENA, serves as the cornerstone of its ecosystem, offering investors steady yields through a variety of mechanisms. By leveraging ether (ETH) liquid staking tokens and short ETH perpetual futures positions, ENA facilitates a "cash and carry" trade strategy, thereby capitalizing on derivatives funding rates for enhanced returns.

Commencing on March 30, 2024, users can participate in Ethena's farming event by staking their BNB and FDUSD tokens alongside other projects in the Binance Launchpool. 

The total circulating supply of ENA would be 15,000,000,000. Binance will release 1,425,000,000 ENA initially, representing 9.5% of its circulating supply. Moreover, the exchange has allocated 300,000,000 ENA as launchpool token rewards, representing 2% of the maximum supply.

Marking a significant milestone, Binance will officially list ENA on April 2, 2024, enabling users to trade via various pairs, including ENA/BTC, ENA/USDT, ENA/BNB, ENA/FDUSD, and ENA/TRY. 

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ENA Airdrop

Concurrently, Ethena Labs plans to reward early adopters with an airdrop of 750 million ENA tokens on April 2. Ethena will distribute 5% of its total supply through the planned airdrop.

Nevertheless, the number of tokens each user receives depends on the number of shards accumulated by April 1.

To qualify for the airdrop, users must stake or hold USDe, Ethena's synthetic dollar pegged to the US dollar. According to DefiLlama data, USDe's token value has risen to over $1.46 billion from $85 million earlier this year, propelled by surging crypto markets and anticipation of the airdrop.