Ethena Launches Self-Custodial Neobank Ethena Pay Exclusively on Avalanche

Ethena launched Ethena Pay on September 1, a self-custodial neobank app that runs entirely on the protocol's own USDe stablecoin, with Avalanche serving as the app's exclusive settlement layer. Avalanche broke the news on X, calling Ethena a "digital dollar giant" and describing the product as bringing "everyday banking onchain, with Avalanche powering the rails behind it. Save, send and spend USDe anywhere in the world, directly from your phone."

What Ethena Pay does

Ethena's own announcement for the product describes Ethena Pay as an internet-money app that combines a self-custodial USDe wallet, a multi-currency virtual bank account, and a virtual card in one interface, generated in the app and added to Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Ethena has not disclosed which card network the card runs on; its Terms of Use state only that card transactions are "issued, sponsored, processed, serviced, or otherwise supported by one or more Third-Party Providers, card issuers, program managers, payment networks, or other card program participants." Users sign in with an Apple or Google account rather than manage a seed phrase, with wallet access secured by passkeys and biometric authentication, and can move funds to external wallets or supported banking rails. The app pays what it calls a "Daily Boost" of up to 6% a year on USDe balances with no staking or lock-up step — Ethena Pay's homepage disclaims the Boost as "a discretionary promotional incentive: it is not interest, not yield, not a deposit, and is not insured by any government deposit-insurance scheme" — plus up to 5% cashback on card purchases, paid out in AVAX. The homepage shows the two mechanics scale differently by tier: the cashback rate steps down as a user's monthly card spend rises within each tier, while the Boost's own cap — the balance each tier's rate covers — rises from $5,000 (Standard, 5% per annum) to $15,000 (Pro, 6% per annum) to $50,000 (VIP, 6% per annum). Transfers between Ethena Pay users are free, per the homepage FAQ, and digital-dollar transfers to an external wallet cost nothing too — the blog says settlement runs "at a cost close to zero" and Ethena Pay "absorbs that small cost completely, resulting in zero transfer costs to the user." Bank withdrawals differ: the same post prices them "at a nominal cost," unspecified. The wallet settles in US dollars, with euro, yen and Brazilian real balances named on Ethena Pay's homepage as coming.

On September 3, Avalanche followed up on X, writing that Ethena Pay "was built to make outdated, traditional banking, simpler," and adding: "Save, spend, earn rewards, get cashback, and move money globally, all from one product, with Avalanche working underneath."

USDe itself is not a bank deposit or a fiat-backed stablecoin. Ethena's own documentation describes it as a synthetic dollar backed by crypto assets paired with offsetting short futures positions, a delta-neutral structure meant to keep the backing productive through funding-rate income rather than holding it idle. Ethena Pay's balances are held in USDe, so the app's savings rate rides on that same mechanism.

Why Avalanche

Ethena's own announcement says the network was chosen because it "provides the fast finality, low costs and flexible infrastructure needed to power USDe movement, transfers, payments and settlement," per Ethena's product blog. Avalanche is described as the sole chain handling money movement, transfers, payments, and settlement for the app — not one rail among several.

Ethena's stated footprint — what checks out and what doesn't

In that same post, Avalanche wrote that USDe is "the primary collateral for Robinhood's crypto earn product," is integrated with "BlackRock's Aladdin platform overseeing ~$25T in assets," and is available "across 100+ venues and protocols." These are Avalanche's characterizations of another company's business, and they carry different levels of independent confirmation.

The "100+ venues and protocols" figure holds up: Ethena's product blog separately confirms USDe is used across more than 100 venues and protocols, naming Robinhood, Coinbase, Binance, Bybit and BlackRock Aladdin. The Aladdin integration is covered in reporting from June 2026 built around three embedded tweets — its ~$25 trillion AUM figure is not that outlet's own reporting. It matches tweets from Miguel de Sousa, marketing at Ethena ("$25t of aum"), and a pseudonymous commentator using the handle realcocopark ("Aladdin is used by institutions managing over $25 trillion in assets"); Markets Media's own reporting states a lower figure, $20 trillion managed on Aladdin, and no independent third party has confirmed $25 trillion.

The Robinhood claim is harder to pin down. USDe is one of the collateral options in the lending vault behind Robinhood's crypto earn product, and reporting on that vault describes USDe as the dominant collateral source pulling in deposits — but the same reporting says the exact allocation between collateral providers has not been disclosed. Whether USDe is formally "the primary collateral," as Avalanche states, or simply the largest of several undisclosed shares is not independently confirmed.

Rollout: 48 countries, a 400-person beta

The app is "live now on iOS, with Android arriving in weeks," per Ethena's launch post, and Ethena's jurisdictions listing shows it live in 48 countries spanning Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania — Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Kenya, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan and Australia are among them. The beta's initial access list is limited to 400 users and expands weekly, according to Cointelegraph's report on the launch, published the same day as Avalanche's announcement. The US, EU, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Taiwan and South Korea are not yet covered, per Ethena's jurisdictions page. Cointelegraph reports Ethena expects to expand into the US, EU, Canada, Taiwan and South Korea during the beta, subject to regulatory approval.

What's still open

Ethena's launch post does commit to a timeframe: it lists "Coming this month" — Android access, US and EU support, multi-currency accounts and savings vaults, and an enhanced US dollar savings account — with no specific date inside that window, which Cointelegraph reports is also subject to regulatory approval for the US and EU. Neither Avalanche nor Ethena has disclosed the exact split of collateral providers behind Robinhood's crypto earn vault, so how large USDe's share is beyond "dominant" is not yet public per that reporting.