Ethena Labs proposes collab with Trump-backed WLFI

Ethena Labs aims to integrate its staked synthetic dollar, sUSDe, with World Liberty Financial, a DeFi protocol endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.

The decentralized finance protocol has submitted a proposal to add sUSDe to World Liberty Financial’s upcoming Aave instance. If approved by the community, the staked stable token will become a core collateral asset for users.

Ethena sUSDe is the staked version of its (USDE) coin, a synthetic dollar backed by leveraged positions underpinned by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and staked Ethereum (stETH).

The token’s mechanics involve simultaneously longing and shorting other assets, maintaining its dollar peg through the net effect. Users have deposited nearly $6 billion into USDe, according to total value locked data from DefiLlama.

Ethena Labs stated that integrating sUSDe into World Liberty Financial (WLFI) would provide several benefits for users, including accruing sUSDe rewards to enhance native WLFI gains. The Trump-endorsed WLFI protocol enables DeFi users to borrow and lend assets on-chain while earning yield for participation.

According to Ethena Labs, introducing sUSDe to WLFI via Aave’s Core instance would boost stablecoin liquidity and user engagement.

sUSDe has had an effective multiplier effect on rates across Aave markets: currently, $1B of sUSDe onboarded to Aave Core have almost doubled the supply rates on over $5 billion of USDC, USDT, and USDS liquidity… With sUSDe, the platform can capture a broader range of users seeking higher on-chain reward rates, diversifying its user base but also solidifying World Liberty Financial’s position as a premier destination for stablecoin lending and borrowing while growing core metrics like TVL.

Ethena Labs proposal

The proposal to connect sUSDe and WLFI is subject to the Aave protocol activating its lending contracts on World Liberty Financial. Aave governance members voted in favor of deploying Aave v3 on WLFI via a vote concluded on Dec. 13.

Ethena Labs has also partnered with BlackRock and Securitize to launch USDtb, a dollar stablecoin primarily backed by tokenized money market BUIDL, which invests in U.S. government-issued debt such as Treasury Bills.