Cryptocurrency
Arthur Hayes Clarifies: Ethena’s Yield Mechanism Unique from Terra’s Collapsed UST Stablecoin

The stablecoin initiative USDe by Ethena Labs has seen notable adoption, with its market cap surging by over 40% in the last week and by 400% in the last month, reaching $840 million. Following the setback of the Terra ecosystem’s downfall, concerns have been raised within the community about the launch of USDe.
However, Arthur Hayes is optimistic, seeing Ethena as the leading contender in the crypto space to deliver a synthetic USD based on a public blockchain.
USDe is not UST
Ethena Labs introduced its USDe synthetic dollar on the public mainnet on February 19.
The launch sparked apprehension among investors due to the Ethereum-based synthetic dollar offering a 27.6% annual percentage yield (APY), surpassing the 20% yield provided by Anchor Protocol on Terra’s UST prior to the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin issuer in May 2022.
Hayes clarified that the method by which USDe generates yield differs entirely from that of UST.
In his latest blog post, the BitMEX founder explained that Ethena utilizes two assets to generate yield: ETH staking yield and positive perp swap funding. This combination is responsible for generating the yield of USDe, which is independent of the value of Ethena’s governance token. Therefore, USDe and UST generate yield through distinct mechanisms.
“As people come to believe that the USDe yield isn’t fugazi, USDe in circulation will grow. The next step is owning a piece of the kingdom. That is where the forthcoming Ethena governance token comes into play.”
Different Risks in UST and USDT
Hayes highlighted that Ethena carries exchange counterparty risk as it is not decentralized and does not aspire to be so. Instead, it maintains short perp swap positions on centralized derivative exchanges.
In the event that these CEXs are unable to fulfill their obligations, such as paying out profits on swap positions or returning deposited collateral, Ethena could incur capital losses. To address this risk, Ethena employs third-party custodians, which is similar to how Tether’s counterparty risk lies with TradFi banks.
While stablecoin giant Tether faces counterparty risk with TradFi banks, Ethena’s risk lies with derivative CEXs and crypto custodians. However, it’s worth noting that these CEXs are investors in Ethena and have a vested interest in maintaining security and ensuring proper payouts on derivatives.
They are highly profitable entities within the crypto industry and are motivated to sustain this profitability. As Ethena expands, the open interest in derivatives grows, increasing fee income for CEXs, thereby aligning incentives for mutual success.
On the other hand, Tether’s product plays a role in facilitating the functioning of crypto capital markets, which inherently seeks to disintermediate TradFi banks.
However, traditional banks are not supportive of crypto and view Tether as a threat to their existence, Hayes said. Consequently, their incentives are not aligned with Tether’s success, and neither are those of regulators aligned with the success of Tether.
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Cryptocurrency
Ethereum Price Analysis: Is ETH Staging a Push Toward $2.8K or Facing a Crash to $2K?

After breaking below the ascending flag pattern, Ethereum has retraced to retest the broken trendline. Should the selling at this level pressure intensify, a deeper decline toward the $2K support zone may follow.
By Shayan
The Daily Chart
ETH recently broke down from its ascending flag pattern, triggering a corrective phase. After finding strong support around the $2.1K level, the cryptocurrency bounced and retraced toward the broken trendline at $2.4K, where it now appears to be encountering resistance.
Despite the rebound, the lack of significant volatility and waning momentum around this key level suggests that buyers are exhausted. If the selling pressure intensifies here, ETH is likely to complete its pullback and extend its correction.
In this case, the $2K mark is emerging as the next key defensive zone where the bulls may attempt to regain control.
The 4-Hour Chart
Zooming into the 4-hour timeframe, ETH initially found strong support within the 0.5–0.618 Fibonacci retracement zone, a historically reliable level during corrections.
The sharp reaction from this range led to a quick move upward. However, the rally has now stalled precisely at the previous flag’s lower boundary, which currently acts as resistance near $2.4K.
This rejection increases the probability of another downward leg, unless the buyers are able to swiftly reclaim control. The $2.1K zone, which overlaps with the Fib support, remains a key battleground.
As long as this area holds, the market structure retains a bullish bias. If breached, however, it may pave the way for a deeper decline toward $2,000.
By Shayan
The funding rate metric serves as a crucial gauge of trader sentiment within the futures market. Typically, in a healthy and sustainable uptrend, funding rates increase steadily, reflecting growing interest from long position traders across both the perpetual futures and spot markets.
However, recent trends reveal a decline in Ethereum’s funding rates, signalling waning bullish momentum and potential buyer fatigue. This shift raises the probability of a short-term rejection and deeper corrective movement.
That said, as funding rates approach the neutral zone near zero, it may suggest a reset in leveraged positions, indicating that the market is cooling off. This environment often precedes renewed demand and could pave the way for a strong bullish continuation once the current consolidation phase concludes.
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
Cryptocurrency
XRP Surpasses BTC, ETH in This Surprising Metric Despite SEC Lawsuit Roadblock

TL:DR
- Ripple’s lawsuit resolution against the US SEC will have to wait even longer as Judge Torres denied the two parties’ joint motion for an indicative ruling.
- However, this seemingly negative development has turned the community bullish on XRP, according to data from Santiment.
With crypto moving sideways, retail optimism toward Bitcoin & Ethereum has died down a bit. Meanwhile, XRP sentiment is currently at a 17-day high, in terms of positive vs. negative commentary. This has happened after a $50M settlement between Ripple & the SEC was stalled. pic.twitter.com/zJctKgEiPf
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) June 27, 2025
As the analytics company informed, the bullish vs. bearish posts on social media in regards to the fourth-largest cryptocurrency have skyrocketed to a 17-day high.
Consequently, XRP has surpassed the two biggest digital assets by market cap, bitcoin and ether, both of which are performing a lot better in terms of price actions in the past week or so.
BTC managed to reclaim the $100,000 line after its brief hiatus below it and now sits at around $107,000 as the geopolitical environment in the Middle East improved. ETH also recovered from its substantial slump and is back to $2,400.
In contrast, XRP’s price has been trading downward for weeks and is currently below $2.1 after another 3-4% daily drop. The latest setback took place yesterday following Judge Torres’s decision to deny the joint motion filed by Ripple and the SEC for a quicker resolution in their lawsuit.
Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom as the XRP token saw a major adoption announcement earlier this week, as you can check here.
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Cryptocurrency
Is Ethereum (ETH) Seriously Undervalued Right Now? Many Whales Bet On It

Ethereum (ETH) began climbing again this week, along with the rest of the market. However, it remains trapped under the $2,879 level for now.
Even as it struggles to spearhead the much-anticipated “altseason,” its network activity is telling a louder story.
Historic Activity on Ethereum
On June 25, Ethereum recorded 1,750,940 confirmed transactions. This was the third-highest daily count in its history and breaking a months-long downward trend in on-chain activity.
The “Ethereum: Transaction Count (Total)” metric captures all confirmed network transactions, including ETH transfers, DeFi operations, smart contract executions, and DApp interactions, and gives a clear insight into real usage. Such high activity levels have not been seen since January 14, 2024, when the cryptocurrency set its all-time high record with 1,961,144 transactions before usage gradually declined.
The latest spike comes even as ETH’s price has shown volatility, ranging between and $2,111-$2,879 over the past month, as traders, DeFi protocols, and arbitrage bots actively adjust positions in real time. This divergence between price weakness and strong on-chain activity suggests a potential early signal of accumulation and renewed DeFi interest, even if it is not yet reflected in ETH’s market valuation.
Meanwhile, institutional and retail interest seems to be steady, with stable ETH holdings on exchanges and rising transaction volumes on Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism, which continue to handle a significant share of Ethereum’s daily settlement activity.
CryptoQuant said that these developments point to deeper structural resilience in the network’s usage patterns.
“These developments reinforce Ethereum’s pivotal role in the broader crypto ecosystem and suggest that the network’s recent on-chain spike is not an isolated event, but part of a deeper structural recovery.”
Amid these signals of underlying strength, whale activity has emerged as another key indicator reflecting deep-pocketed confidence in Ethereum.
Whale Purchases Accelerate
Whales continue aggressive ETH accumulation, rapidly draining exchange supplies. Investor Ted Pillows highlighted one whale’s $8.91 million ETH purchase via Galaxy Digital yesterday, adding to $422 million in Ethereum amassed within a month.
These large-scale buys suggest mounting confidence among whales, even as overall market sentiment remains cautious.
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