Athena began her journey at boarding school, where she was challenged to think independently and build her leadership abilities. These lessons inspired her to create an initiative designed to empower women through music; today she oversees a platform which brings together renowned musicians as well as corporate, university, and community leaders with the goal of inspiring women through performance coaching and personal mentoring programs.
Ethena founder Athena is committed to building a secure platform that prioritizes transparency for the DeFi ecosystem. She recognizes that DeFi protocols face numerous risks related to smart contracts, liquidity risks and external platforms managing derivatives/collateral. To mitigate these risks, Ethena deploys a diverse hedging strategy, utilizes multiple custody solutions and ensures transparent verifiability of transactions/positions through blockchain technology.
Ethena’s USDe (USD stablecoin), offers a secure and stable store of value that’s pegged to the US dollar through an innovative delta-neutral hedging mechanism. When users mint USDe, they deposit accepted crypto assets as collateral such as Ethereum or liquid staking tokens while simultaneously opening short perpetual futures positions in derivatives markets that hedge against price volatility and offset any losses in collateral assets deposited as collateral – thus maintaining USDe’s stability.
Hedging mechanisms also reduce reliance on centralized exchanges for managing USDe’s derivatives and collateral, which could become susceptible to liquidity crises and security breaches. Instead, USDe uses off-exchange settlement solutions provided by institutional-grade custodians such as Copper, Ceffu and Fireblocks which reduce counterparty risk as well as losses while permitting continued operations even if funding rates change unexpectedly.
USDe utilizes an innovative value accrual model that combines its inherent staked ether yield with derivative markets to produce sUSDe (staked version of USDe), offering holders of USDe an attractive return while providing added safety and stability.
USDe’s rise demonstrates the strong need for safe, stable, and widely-accessible stores of value within the crypto economy. To promote and support USDe and its sister products’ growth further, DeFi is dedicated to developing strategic partnerships within their ecosystem; integrations with major DeFi protocols; education campaigns about these offerings; as well as communicating openly regarding benefits and operations of USDe products.
As our world changes, it is critical that all of us have access to a currency capable of keeping pace. USDe is proud to play an essential part in providing safe and affordable ways for people from diverse backgrounds to participate in this new financial system. We look forward to being part of it!
