The native asset of the stablecoin-focused crypto project Ethena (ENA) skyrocketed by more than 28% on Friday, ignoring a wider crypto market pullback.
The price surge materialized after the Arthur Hayes-backed decentralized finance (DeFi) project announced a new strategic partnership with Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank.
The partnership aims to bring Ethena’s second stablecoin offering, USDtb, to the US under the regulatory umbrella of the recently enacted GENIUS Act, with Anchorage Digital issuing the asset domestically.
The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump last week, establishes a regulatory framework for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar. The legislation requires each token to be fully backed by liquid assets such as cash or short-term US Treasuries.
USDtb is backed by institutional-grade tokenized treasury funds, including BlackRock’s BUIDL, a tokenized money-market fund designed to offer a stable value of $1 per token. BlackRock’s fund is built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain.
Says Guy Young, CEO of Ethena Labs,
“While we’ve already seen strong demand for USDtb, we expect GENIUS compliance to empower our partners and holders to confidently and significantly expand its use across new products and platforms. By partnering with Anchorage Digital – the only federally regulated crypto bank in the United States – we reinforce the foundation needed to continue scaling the product without compromising on speed, flexibility, or trust.”
Ethena’s native asset, ENA, is trading at $0.607 at time of writing and is up more than 56% in the past seven days.
By comparison, the overall crypto market cap is down more than 4% in the past 24 hours.
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