- Ethena Pay just went live on Tuesday, offering a self-custodial money app with cashback and yield features for transactions and holdings.
- The app is available for download on Android and iOS and is currently in a phased rollout across 48 countries.
Ethena Labs, the team behind the Ethena (ENA) protocol and issuer of the USDe synthetic dollar, has unveiled Ethena Pay. It called the new platform the internet money neobank.
The team built the self-custodial money app on top of the Avalanche (AVAX) chain. It’s now live in beta and available on both Android and iOS devices.
Ethena Pay Beta Launch
According to Ethena Labs, the app is on a phased release across 48 countries, with its initial launches in Australia, Brazil, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Interestingly, Ethena Pay skipped major markets in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) in its first wave of rollout due to regulatory constraints. Nonetheless, its developer plans to add them in the near future, alongside Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan, subject to authorization from their regulatory bodies.
Iron, a stablecoin infrastructure under Moonpay, provides backend support for the app.
Key Features
Ethena Labs designed the app to integrate with the USDe synthetic dollar vertically. It presents users with an alternative to the default stablecoins used by most payment apps, namely Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.
Besides USDe, Ethena Pay accepts fiat transfers using International Bank Account Number (IBAN) credentials and direct crypto payments. However, it automatically converts the funds to their corresponding values in USDe.
Meanwhile, the app settles withdrawals in the recipient’s local currency, including US dollars, euros, and pound sterling. It comes without the fees normally associated with bank transfers, which can cost between 0.05% and $0.1 per transaction.
Additionally, Ethena Pay comes with a companion card, allowing users to spend their balance across the Visa network’s more than 130 million merchants.
“Avalanche was focused on RWAs and tokenized assets before almost anyone else was talking about them,” said Guy Young, Founder of Ethena. “Ethena Pay can plug into the liquidity and applications already in the Avalanche ecosystem, then serve those products through a simple experience where users never have to interact directly with DeFi (decentralized finance).”
Reward System
Ethena Pay has a three-tier system for users. Its Standard version is free, while Pro and VIP require either locking in specific amounts or referring the app to users.
Card spend cashback can reach up to 5% from participating merchants, including Uber, Spotify, and Claude. Furthermore, users can earn yield on their holdings of up to 6%.
