USD
Ethena Launches Stablecoin Neobank Ethena Pay on Avalanche
New app combines self-custodial savings, cards, bank transfers and fiat access
TL;DR
- Ethena launched Ethena Pay, a self-custodial consumer finance app built exclusively on Avalanche.
- The service combines USDe savings, card spending, fiat transfers, IBAN access and global payments in one application.
- Membership benefits include savings yields of up to 6% and selected merchant cashback of up to 10%.
Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.
Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!
Ethena expanded into consumer financial services on September 1, 2026, with the beta launch of Ethena Pay, a self-custodial money app that combines stablecoin savings, card spending, international transfers and fiat onramps. The service is built exclusively on Avalanche and is initially rolling out across 48 countries as Ethena moves beyond the yield-generating USDe business that established its core product.
Ethena is pitching the service as an “internet money neobank,” bringing banking-style functions into one application. Ethena Pay allows users to maintain dollar-denominated savings, earn rewards, spend through a payment card and transfer funds without separately moving money among a crypto wallet, exchange and traditional bank account.
Ethena founder Guy Young said Ethena Pay is the first neobanking application vertically integrated with a stablecoin issuer’s own product rather than relying primarily on third-party stablecoins such as USDC or USDT.
“Financial services today remain fragmented between fiat and crypto ecosystems,” Young said. Ethena designed the application to bring crypto infrastructure into everyday financial activity while allowing many of the underlying onchain processes to sit behind conventional payment and banking interfaces.
USDe serves as the dollar balance within Ethena Pay. Users can receive fiat through International Bank Account Number, or IBAN, details or send crypto directly into their self-custodial wallet, with incoming funds appearing as USDe. Funds can also be withdrawn to external bank accounts and settle in the recipient’s local currency, according to Ethena.
The application supports local currencies and free U.S. dollar, British pound and euro onramps. Bank transfers denominated in USD, EUR and GBP are also free, while other bank transfers carry fees ranging from 0.05% to 0.1%.
Ethena said users can additionally make “instant” global transfers through a username or tag without paying a transfer fee, creating a peer-to-peer payment option that does not require conventional bank details between Ethena Pay users.
Savings and card rewards vary by membership tier
Ethena Pay divides its savings and card rewards into Standard, Pro and VIP membership levels. Standard membership is free, while the higher tiers can be unlocked either through ENA token commitments or user referrals.
Young said the underlying rate generated by USDe funds the savings yield. Ethena did not identify the funding source for the remainder of the reward program.
Card cashback is paid in Avalanche’s AVAX token. Pro users can also receive up to 5% cashback at selected merchants, while VIP members can receive up to 10%. Ethena identified Uber, Spotify and Claude among the participating brands.
Ethena Pay also includes a feature called “Buy Now Pay Never,” which uses rewards generated by a user’s savings to fund purchases without drawing down the underlying principal. The feature links the savings and payments components by allowing accumulated rewards to be directed toward spending.
Avalanche serves as the exclusive settlement network
Young said Ethena Pay is built exclusively on Avalanche rather than operating as a multichain application. Avalanche handles settlement and money movement for payments and transfers within the service.
Asked why Ethena selected Avalanche, Young said the companies were aligned around “building for businesses” and creating infrastructure that can remain largely invisible beneath consumer-facing financial products. He also pointed to Avalanche’s previous work with Rain cards.
Iron, a stablecoin infrastructure company acquired by MoonPay in 2025, provides backend infrastructure support for Ethena Pay.
The beta is available on iOS and Android, with access being opened in stages. Ethena began the controlled rollout with 400 early-access users and plans to increase participation each week as the service progresses through its September rollout.
Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Kenya, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Australia are among the initial markets. The United States and European Union are not part of the first release, while Ethena expects to add those regions together with Canada, Taiwan and South Korea during the beta, subject to local regulatory requirements.
Asked which regulatory approvals or licenses Ethena Pay currently holds and in which jurisdictions, Young did not provide details, saying the information would be available in public documentation during the week of the launch.
Ethena plans to add countries, currencies and additional features each week during the beta and expects the application to move out of beta during September.
Ethena broadens its business beyond USDe yield
Ethena Pay extends the company’s business beyond the crypto basis trade that originally supplied returns for USDe. USDe had about $4 billion in circulating supply at the time of the launch, compared with a peak of roughly $15 billion in September 2025.
That represents an approximately $11 billion reduction from the cited peak, equivalent to about 73%. Unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, USDe uses a portfolio of backing assets and derivatives positions intended to offset movements in those assets and maintain its dollar peg.
The expansion follows other changes to Ethena’s product and token strategy. During the week before the payments launch, the project overhauled ENA token economics and outlined plans to use equity perpetuals as another source of returns for USDe.
ENA rallied 9% following the Ethena Pay announcement while the broader crypto market was described as flat.
Earlier in 2026, Ethena also introduced a savings product with Coinbase, giving its dollar products another distribution channel through an exchange with more than 100 million users.
Ethena’s expansion into consumer payments follows previous regulatory scrutiny in Europe. German regulator BaFin ordered Ethena GmbH to wind up its USDe business in June 2025 after the company withdrew its application for authorization under European Union crypto rules.
Ethena Pay brings the company’s USDe issuance, self-custodial balances, savings yield, fiat receipt, bank transfers, peer-to-peer transfers, payment cards and rewards into one consumer-facing application, with Avalanche providing the settlement infrastructure beneath the product.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
