Ethena And Securitize Team Up In $1b Tokenization Contest

Stablecoin issuer Ethena has partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to submit an application to include the USDtb stablecoin in Sky’s $1 billion tokenization contest.

Ethena (ENA) and Securitize revealed their joint pitch for Sky’s Spark competition, aiming to utilize BlackRock’s tokenized U.S. treasuries fund, BUIDL, as the principal reserve asset.

BlackRock launched BUIDL, the largest tokenized U.S. treasuries asset fund by market cap, in March 2024. Ethena and Securitize hope to leverage its role in the Tokenization Grand Prix, which focuses on bringing $1 billion in tokenized public securities to Sky, formerly MakerDAO.

Sky-based lending protocol Spark announced the competition in June this year, offering real-world assets issuers the chance to win up to $1 billion in liquidity. Spark opened applications for the competition on August 12, 2024.

Other than the USDtb application, Ethena and Securitize have also offered a proposal for a swap facility with Ethena’s other stablecoin USDe. This will see the ecosystem manage the reallocation of assets between the two stablecoins amid Sky’s interest rate cycle.

“If crypto funding increases, Sky can reduce any USDtb holdings and increase its USDe allocation with zero friction and quicker than it could allocate to and from current RWA issuers,” Ethena Labs wrote on X.

Ethena contributes approximately $120 million to Sky’s annual revenue, accounting for nearly 30% of the decentralized finance platform’s total earnings, with collateral backing allocated at just 13%.