Anchorage and Ethena Labs have teamed up to introduce in-platform rewards for USDtb and USDe users, but USDtb’s market cap has fallen 22%.
Ethena Labs has expanded its partnership with Anchorage, the only federally chartered crypto bank in the US, to introduce in-platform rewards for USDtb and USDe holders.
Institutions can now earn on both products without staking or lockup requirements. Experts believe that this feature could encourage wider use of Ethena’s stablecoins among firms seeking regulated digital asset tools.
We are excited to expand our partnership with @Anchorage to bring in-platform rewards to USDtb and USDe holders.
Anchorage is the only federally chartered crypto bank now offering institutions compliant infrastructure to earn on both products.
No staking or lockups required. pic.twitter.com/NMwD3Sn8oL
— Ethena Labs (@ethena_labs) December 4, 2025
The update follows their earlier collaboration to bring USDtb into the US.
USDe Faces Pressure, USDtb Sees 22% Drop in Market Cap
Ethena’s USDe, which once reached a market cap above $14 billion, has recently been facing struggles. The stablecoin’s market value has fallen sharply after its brief depegging to $0.65 during a liquidity event in October.
The drop exposed the weak points of its synthetic model, which depends on trading strategies rather than direct backing. Many holders shifted to tokenized assets and stablecoins supported by simpler structures, which pushed USDe’s supply lower.
USDtb is Ethena’s new, yield-bearing, fully backed stablecoin that uses Tether’s USDT USDT $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $185.33 B Vol. 24h: $94.13 B stablecoin as its underlying collateral. It is part of Ethena’s move toward regulated RWA integrations, announced as a safer, simpler alternative to its original synthetic dollar.
Despite this expansion announcement, USDtb saw a 22% drop in its market cap on Dec. 4, currently standing around $1.04 billion.
However, Ethena’s ENA token saw an uptick in market activity following the announcement. At the time of writing, the crypto token is trading near $0.289, up by around 6% in the past day.
Rising Demand for Stablecoins in the US
Interest in stablecoins has expanded in the US this year under the Donald Trump administration. Supportive legislation such as the GENIUS Act has encouraged both institutions and retail users to enter the market.
2025 has also brought sharp growth in regulated digital asset products, which has pushed more firms to seek stablecoins backed by clear rules. The total market cap of all stablecoins reached $316 billion as of writing.
Tether(@Tether_to) just minted 1B $USDT!#Tether and #Circle have minted $20B in stablecoins after the 1011 market crash.https://t.co/Ptsy2BsPoEhttps://t.co/bJ4jMdPZxo pic.twitter.com/IxbczCtNa8
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 2, 2025
Tether’s USDT remains the largest stablecoin with $185 billion in market cap, while Circle’s USDC USDC $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $77.96 B Vol. 24h: $5.71 B holds $78 billion. Data from Lookonchain shows Tether and Circle have minted about $20 billion in stablecoins after the October market shock.
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