Ethena Hunts Yields 5x Higher Than Bitcoin in $120 Trillion Wall Street Market

Ethena, a financial protocol, is shifting its focus from crypto derivatives to equity perpetual futures in an effort to increase yields and recover from losses. The company is targeting the $120 trillion Wall Street stock market, where funding rates have averaged 14% on Hyperliquid and 17.5% on Binance.

This move comes as traditional basis positions have become less attractive due to falling crypto funding rates. Ethena's USDe has seen a decline in its backing from crypto basis positions, which now contribute only a small part of its returns.

The company is betting that the equity perpetuals market will continue to grow and accommodate larger positions. Equity perpetual futures have become one of the protocol's biggest potential growth markets, with real-world asset perpetual volume exceeding half of crypto volume on Hyperliquid last month.