Ethena’s governance token ENA has climbed after BlackRock integrated the project’s synthetic dollar USDe into its Aladdin investment platform, extending institutional access to a system used to oversee more than $20 trillion in assets.
Summary
- BlackRock has integrated Ethena’s USDe into its Aladdin platform, expanding institutional access to the synthetic dollar.
- ENA rose as much as 12% following the announcement, outperforming the broader crypto market despite Bitcoin trading below $60,000.
- StablecoinX founder Ted Chen said the integration opens USDe to institutions managing more than $20 trillion through Aladdin.
According to a June 29 X announcement from Ethena, the integration enables financial institutions using BlackRock’s Aladdin platform to access USDe through their existing investment and risk management workflows.
The company said the collaboration gives institutions connected to Aladdin a new route to allocate capital to the synthetic dollar while managing positions within the same platform.
BlackRock has expanded its relationship with Ethena
Alongside the USDe integration, Ethena confirmed that BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund BUIDL will become the primary reserve asset for its white-label product. The companies already work together through USDtb, Ethena’s stablecoin backed mainly by BUIDL, making the latest announcement an expansion of an existing relationship rather than a new partnership.
Ethena also said it will provide a liquidity facility for BlackRock’s tokenized products. The company did not disclose financial terms or a launch timeline but described the arrangement as another step in connecting tokenized assets with institutional infrastructure.
The announcement follows several deals involving Ethena’s stablecoin business this month. Earlier, the company selected Centrifuge as its tokenization partner and entered an agreement with global asset manager Janus Henderson. As part of that collaboration, Janus Henderson committed to invest in ENA, Ethena’s governance token.
Another recent milestone came after StablecoinX completed its merger with TLGY Acquisition Corp., allowing the Ethena-focused infrastructure company to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker USDE.
The company said its public warrants started trading under the symbol USDEW on June 26 following the completion of the business combination a day earlier. The listing provides public-market investors with direct exposure to StablecoinX’s Ethena-focused strategy even as demand for USDe remains below last year’s peak.
ENA has outperformed the broader crypto market
As per data from crypto.news, Ethena (ENA) price rose 12% to $0.083 shortly after the BlackRock announcement before easing to around $0.081, leaving the token about 7% higher on the day. The gain came while the wider cryptocurrency market remained under pressure, with Bitcoin trading below $60,000.
Part of the positive reaction may be linked to Ethena’s fee-switch mechanism. Under the project’s design, a share of protocol revenue is allocated toward buying back ENA, meaning increased activity around USDe could benefit the governance token over time.
Commenting on the announcement, StablecoinX founder Ted Chen said the Aladdin integration significantly increases USDe’s institutional reach because insurers, pension funds and major asset managers already rely on the platform. He noted that organizations including Deutsche Bank and Citi use Aladdin to oversee portfolios.
“That’s over $20 trillion in assets that these managers have on the Aladdin platform. Now, all of these managers will have the ability to not only allocate to USDe, but also seamlessly integrate it into their existing portfolio management and risk analytics processes.”
