YZi Labs Expands Stake In Ethena As USDe Surges Past $13b

With USDe’s supply soaring past $13 billion, its earliest institutional backer is reinforcing its position. YZi Labs’ deepened commitment signals a long-term belief in a crypto-native dollar system, far beyond initial incubation.

On September 19, YZi Labs announced a significant expansion of its stake in Ethena Labs, the protocol engineering the USDe synthetic dollar. The move reinforces the venture firm’s position as a foundational backer, strategically doubling down on a project it first incubated before USDe’s public launch in February of last year.

With USDe supply climbing past $13 billion and total value locked crossing the same mark, YZi Labs’ deeper involvement signals alignment with Ethena’s next growth cycle, including new products like USDtb and the Converge settlement layer.

While the specific dollar figure of the expanded stake remains undisclosed, YZi Labs outlined a clear strategic deployment for the capital. The investment is targeted to propel three core initiatives: deepening USDe’s integration across both centralized and decentralized exchanges, accelerating its expansion on BNB Chain, and funding the development of two new flagship products.

These include USDtb, a fiat-backed stablecoin pursuing GENIUS compliance, and Converge, an institutional settlement layer being developed with Securitize and BlackRock’s tokenization partners to bring traditional finance-grade real-world assets on-chain.

Ethena Labs founder and CEO Guy Young framed the renewed partnership as a critical step toward a long-envisioned goal for the digital-asset space.

“We’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with YZi Labs, a long-standing and strategic backer. The holy grail of digital dollar distribution has always been embedding stable, yield-bearing assets directly into the core of the crypto economy. With USDe now scaling across exchanges, DeFi protocols, and global user bases, that vision is becoming a reality,” Young said.

For YZi Labs, the decision reflects its wider mandate. The firm claims to manage more than $10 billion in assets worldwide and holds a portfolio of over 300 ventures across six continents, with more than 65 companies having passed through its incubation programs.

Ethena is among its most prominent bets in digital finance, and it is backed by an equally heavyweight roster of investors that includes Dragonfly, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Binance Labs, Bybit, and OKX.