Standard Chartered Predicts Ethena’s USDe to Reach $40 Billion by 2028, ENA Token to Surge Sevenfold
British multinational bank Standard Chartered has issued a bullish forecast for Ethena, projecting its USDe stablecoin supply to expand eightfold to $40 billion by the end of 2028. This growth is anticipated as the protocol diversifies its yield generation strategies beyond traditional cryptocurrency markets.
ENA Token Price Target Set at $2
In a research report released Wednesday, Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Ethena’s native token, ENA, setting a year-end 2028 price target of $2. This represents a roughly sevenfold increase from the token’s price of $0.28 cited in the report. The bank also anticipates that USDe will grow at a slightly faster pace than the overall stablecoin market during the same period.
Outperforming Bitcoin and Ether
Standard Chartered’s projections suggest that ENA could outperform both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) through 2028. The bank forecasts BTC to reach $300,000 and ETH to hit $18,000 by the end of the forecast horizon.
Diversification Beyond Crypto Yield
The report highlights that declining returns from USDe’s traditional crypto basis trade—which involves holding spot crypto while shorting perpetual futures—has prompted Ethena to explore new avenues. These include expanding into decentralized finance (DeFi) and institutional lending, real-world assets, and basis trades linked to equities and commodities. These diversified sources currently contribute a blended yield of 5.2%, providing Ethena with greater capacity for scaling.
Standard Chartered also forecasts a significant expansion in the tokenized asset market, predicting it will grow from approximately $350 billion today to $4 trillion by the end of 2028. This expansion will broaden the pool of assets available for Ethena to generate yield.
ENA Buybacks Tied to USDe Growth
A key element of Standard Chartered’s valuation thesis for ENA is the direct link between USDe’s growth and token buybacks. An Ethena governance-approved “fee switch” implemented in early September mandates that 95% of net revenue from its business lines be directed towards ENA buybacks once USDe reaches specific supply milestones.
Ethena estimates that at a USDe supply of $25 billion, this mechanism could facilitate annual ENA buybacks totaling $375 million, assuming a 6% gross protocol yield and a 25% net revenue take rate.
Sustainable Buyback Rate
Standard Chartered estimates that if USDe reaches its projected $40 billion supply and ENA’s price remains static, annual buybacks could represent roughly 23% of ENA’s circulating market capitalization. The bank deems such a rate unsustainable, anticipating that ENA’s price will need to rise to a level where buybacks stabilize at a lower percentage of its market value.
As a point of comparison, Standard Chartered cited Uniswap, noting that UNI’s annualized buyback rate has stabilized between 3% and 4% as its token price has appreciated.
As of Wednesday, ENA was trading around $0.27, marking an approximate 28% increase over the past week and a 77% rise over the past month, according to CoinGecko data. The token currently holds a market capitalization of approximately $2.65 billion.
