Ethena has launched Ethena Pay in beta for 400 early users, bringing USDe payments, Avalanche settlement and annual reward rates of up to 6% to a self-custodial mobile app.
Summary
- 400 users will receive initial access, with the rollout expanding weekly during September.
- 49 countries can access the app, while the U.S., EU, U.K., and Canada remain excluded.
- Standard users receive up to 5%, while Pro and VIP rates reach 6% within set balance caps.
- Eligible card purchases earn up to 5% cashback, which is credited in AVAX.
Ethena Pay connects USDe balances with daily payments
Ethena said in a launch announcement that Ethena Pay will begin with an early-access group of 400 users before adding more participants each week. The company plans to increase access throughout September as the app moves beyond its initial beta stage.
Available on iOS, the app combines a self-custodial crypto wallet with bank transfers, fiat on-ramps and a Visa payment card. A user’s dollar balance is held in USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar, while Avalanche processes transfers, purchases, and settlement behind the app’s consumer-facing interface.
Users can receive fiat through assigned International Bank Account Number details or transfer crypto directly to their wallets. In either case, the received balance appears as USDe. Withdrawals sent to external bank accounts can be converted into the recipient’s local currency, according to Ethena.
Payments between Ethena Pay users can also be sent through a username or payment tag instead of a blockchain address. Ethena said transfers between app users carry no fee, while bank transfers denominated in U.S. dollars, euros, and British pounds are also free. Other bank transfers may cost between 0.05% and 0.1%.
The beta is available across 49 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania. Ethena Pay’s supported-market list includes countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya and South Africa, although individual products remain subject to local eligibility rules.
Ethena Pay rates depend on membership tier
Ethena Pay divides its balance rewards across Standard, Pro, and VIP tiers. Standard users can receive a total annual rate of up to 5% on eligible balances capped at $5,000.
Pro users can receive up to 6% on a maximum eligible balance of $15,000, while the VIP tier applies the same 6% rate to as much as $50,000. Amounts above each limit continue to receive the prevailing USDe base rate but do not qualify for the added Daily Boost.
Rather than adding a separate 6% payment to USDe’s existing rate, Ethena Pay uses the Daily Boost to bring eligible balances up to the advertised total. If the USDe base rate increases, the boost becomes smaller; if the base rate falls, the boost grows to maintain the applicable tier rate. No boost applies when the base rate exceeds the tier’s stated rate.
Calculated from a user’s time-weighted average daily balance, the boost is normally paid in USDe within 24 hours after the accrual day ends. Ethena Pay requires users to complete at least one qualifying card transaction during each calendar month to receive it.
Despite the app’s consumer-facing rate display, Ethena Pay’s terms describe the Daily Boost as a discretionary promotional incentive rather than interest, yield or a deposit product. The company also states that the balance and related rewards are not covered by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government-backed deposit insurance program.
Standard membership is free. Pro access can be obtained by locking $2,000 worth of ENA or referring 10 eligible users, while VIP membership requires $10,000 in locked ENA or 50 referrals, according to launch details reported by The Block.
Ethena’s balance model relies partly on returns generated from the assets supporting USDe. In August, Ethena and FalconX opened a $1 billion facility that uses part of USDe’s backing portfolio to finance secured, overcollateralized loans for institutional borrowers.
According to crypto.news, institutional lending already accounted for $310 million, or 6.9%, of USDe’s backing in early July. The reported portfolio also included roughly $2 billion in decentralized finance lending, about $1.2 billion in liquid stablecoins, and additional exposure to tokenized assets.
Self-custody leaves recovery with the user
Ethena Pay Ltd., a Malta-registered software company, states that it does not operate as a bank, broker-dealer, investment adviser or money services business. Third-party providers supply the financial services accessible through the app.
Under its self-custodial design, private keys, seed phrases and wallet recovery details stay on the user’s device. Ethena Pay says it cannot access customer assets or restore a wallet when the user loses the credentials needed to enter it.
The Visa Spend Card is issued by Third National, a Puerto Rico-chartered bank, under a Visa license. Signify Holdings, which operates as Rain, manages the card program.
Qualifying purchases earn cashback in AVAX rather than dollars or USDe. Standard users receive 4% on the first $2,500 spent each month, while Pro members earn 4.5% on their first $8,000 and VIP users receive 5% on their first $20,000.
Rates decline in bands after users cross those spending limits. For example, the Pro rate falls to 2% between $8,000 and $10,000, then to 1% from $10,000 to $12,000, and 0.5% above $12,000. Each lower rate applies only to spending within that band rather than repricing earlier purchases.
Ethena Pay excludes several categories from cashback, including ATM withdrawals, cash advances, gambling, gift cards, account funding, peer-to-peer transfers, and purchases of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, or securities. Transactions below $1 also receive no cashback.
Once a card payment settles, normally within one to three business days, the dollar value of the reward is converted into AVAX at the rate available when the credit is issued. Ethena Pay warns that its dollar value can rise or fall after reaching the user’s wallet because AVAX remains exposed to market movements.
U.S. users remain outside the Ethena Pay rollout
For U.S. readers, the main restriction is direct access. Ethena Pay is not yet available in the United States, and its card terms exclude U.S. citizens, residents and other U.S. persons even though the issuer is chartered in Puerto Rico.
The European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada are also outside the initial release. Ethena has listed those markets for a later rollout, but access will depend on regional requirements and product approvals.
American investors can still obtain indirect public-market exposure to Ethena’s ecosystem through StablecoinX, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker USDE. The company held approximately 3.03 billion ENA tokens valued at about $275 million when its merger with TLGY Acquisition Corp. closed in June.
Institutional access has developed through a separate channel. In June, BlackRock integrated USDe into Aladdin, its investment and risk-management platform used by institutions overseeing more than $20 trillion in assets. BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money-market fund was also selected as the main reserve asset for Ethena’s white-label stablecoin product.
Avalanche handles the app’s settlement activity
Avalanche serves as the exclusive settlement network for Ethena Pay, covering transfers, card-related money movement, and payments, while the blockchain layer remains largely hidden from users.
The network has already supported card and corporate-payment trials involving stablecoins. In July, Hyundai Card completed a $20,000 transfer between Hyundai Motor’s U.S. and Mexican entities using USDT on Avalanche.
Hyundai Card said the intercompany settlement took about seven minutes, compared with the three to four hours usually required for a conventional bank transfer. The company handled the project’s regulatory reviews, legal and tax assessments, internal controls, and remittance design, while blockchain payments provider Axiym also participated.
