USDe or USDC — is Ethena’s synthetic dollar a stablecoin like USDC?
USDE: $4.7B in circulation, MiCA status not in our data. sUSDe (Ethena Labs): size not stated, yields ~5.0% (variable), MiCA status not in our data. USDC (Circle): $72.7B in circulation, authorised under MiCA in the EU. USDT (Tether): $183.4B in circulation, not authorised under MiCA.
USDC and USDT are backed by cash and US Treasuries held by their issuers. USDe is different: Ethena holds crypto such as ETH and bitcoin and offsets the price risk with short futures positions, plus stablecoin reserves. USDe itself pays nothing; staked as sUSDe it earns the income of that strategy.
How this list is made: computed from the live TokenBank dataset each time the page is built — 4 matching rows, each linked to its own page and source.
Figures from our live dataset · data as of 2026-11-09 · this answer as JSON · not investment advice
| Token | Issuer | Yield / return | Minimum | KYC to buy | EU (MiCA) | Chain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDE Ethena USDe | — | No yield | — | Not stated | — | Ethereum / Plasma / Solana (+28) |
| sUSDe Ethena Staked USDe | Ethena Labs | ~5.0% (variable) checked 9 Nov 2026 | None | No KYC on a DEX | — | Ethereum (+L2) |
| USDC USD Coin | Circle | No yield | — | No KYC on a DEX | Authorised · ACPR (France) Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS source | Ethereum / Hyperliquid L1 / Solana (+154) |
| USDT Tether | Tether | No yield | — | No KYC on a DEX | Not authorisedsource | Tron / Ethereum / BSC (+127) |
Side by side
| USDE | sUSDe | USDC | USDT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where the yield comes from | — | Delta-neutral futures basis trade + staking | — | — |
| Risk (our label) | — | Medium-High | — | — |
| Custody | — | Self-custody (collateral held by centralized custodians) | — | — |
| Liquidity | Traded on public markets — venues not verified | 7-day cooldown to unstake; sell instantly on a DEX | Traded on public markets — venues not verified | Traded on public markets — venues not verified |
| KYC to mint with the issuer | Not stated | No KYC | KYC required | KYC required |
| KYC to buy on a market | Not stated | No KYC | No KYC | No KYC |
| KYC to redeem | Not stated | Not stated | KYC required | KYC required |
| Assets under management | $4,682,788,715 circulating | — | $72,656,933,418 circulating | $183,360,958,165 circulating |
| Jurisdiction | United States | — | United States | United States |
| How to buy | — | Stake USDe at app.ethena.fi or buy sUSDe on a DEX/CEX | On any exchange (KYC there) or on a DEX with a self-custody wallet (no KYC). Minting and redeeming 1:1 runs through Circle Mint, which is open to approved institutions only. | On any exchange (KYC there) or on a DEX with a self-custody wallet (no KYC). Minting and redeeming directly with Tether needs a verified account and is aimed at large amounts. |
More questions
What can make USDe lose its peg?
Risks a cash-backed coin does not have: a long stretch of negative funding rates, a failure at an exchange or custodian holding the hedges, or a sudden crash that the hedge cannot follow. USDC and USDT depend instead on the quality and access of their reserves.
Which of them can I buy without KYC?
3 of 4 can be bought on a DEX without identity verification: sUSDe, USDC, USDT. For the rest, the source does not state the secondary-market gate.
Where does the yield come from?
sUSDe: Delta-neutral futures basis trade + staking.
Which is the largest?
By size, USDT at $183.4B, followed by USDC at $72.7B and USDE at $4.7B. Size is not safety, but a larger product usually means a deeper market to sell into.
Are these yields fixed?
1 of 4 are variable: the rate moves with markets and is not guaranteed. The figures on this page were last checked between 2026-10-11 and 2026-11-09.