Ethena Launches Saylor Mode: Stablecoin Meets Listed Company Capital Flywheel

Author: Tindorr, Crypto KOL; Translation: Jinse Finance xiaozou

StablecoinX's ENA Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) announcement might, at first glance, look like a routine treasury operation.

Another treasury announcement? Not so. It opens a new chapter of greater strategic significance: building a capital bridge between traditional finance and the on-chain stablecoin ecosystem.

By establishing StablecoinX, Ethena has created a tool that allows traditional equity investors to gain exposure to ENA without setting up a wallet, using a centralized exchange, or engaging with DeFi.

This structure appears simple, but it is actually powerful. It has quietly opened up a channel for long-term, repeatable capital inflows that were previously out of reach.

Since the announcement, ENA has shown relative strength in the market. Price action suggests a steady accumulation trend, and this may just be the beginning.

1. Degens Quick Overview

StablecoinX will merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) TLGY and list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol USDE, bringing in $360 million in new capital to launch a multi-phase ENA treasury strategy:

$260 million in cash will be invested in a six-week buyback program (starting July 21st).

ENA will be strategically acquired on the open market, targeting approximately 8% of the circulating supply below the July 23rd price level.

$100 million in locked ENA has been raised (including $60 million from the Ethena Foundation).

All tokens will be permanently locked and included on the balance sheet: lending or selling is prohibited. The Ethena Foundation has a veto over any future token sales. StablecoinX will become a long-term "black hole" for ENA, permanently reducing its circulating supply. This is the first publicly listed company in the stablecoin space operating solely as a treasury, and the market is only just beginning to realize the profound impact this capital flow could have. The establishment of StablecoinX is no ordinary treasury operation, but rather a structural shift in how the protocol secures long-term liquidity. This is the core essence of the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) model: a growth framework that compounds value through repeatable capital cycles. Here's how the StablecoinX flywheel effect works: StablecoinX raises capital by issuing equity in the public market—typically priced at no less than 1.0x adjusted net asset value (mNAV). This allows it to source fresh liquidity from traditional finance as "dry powder" without having to tap into crypto-native capital.

ENA Accumulation

The raised funds will be used to systematically and scalably acquire ENA on the open market. This structure's sole mission is to continuously accumulate and hold ENA in perpetuity.

ENA Compound Value

As ENA is added to the balance sheet, it generates income through staking, airdrops, and potential future protocol incentives. This value will flow back to StablecoinX shareholders, achieving compound growth in net asset value per share.

Driving ENA Appreciation

The larger StablecoinX grows, the more deeply its interests are tied to the development of Ethena. In return, it will become a public advocate for ENA, helping to amplify the stablecoin trend and expand its use cases.

Increasing Valuation

All of these steps will strengthen the equity value of USDE (NASDAQ), enabling StablecoinX to raise further capital. This cycle repeats itself, each time becoming more robust and efficient.

This is the key point that most people haven’t realized yet:

StablecoinX is not a one-time treasury operation, but a capital flywheel built on the open market, designed to continuously channel external demand into ENA and achieve scale expansion.

3. Why this is feasible and why it is needed now

(1)Breaking through the crypto-native liquidity ceiling

We have hit the liquidity ceiling. Since 2021, the altcoin market has been hovering at the same peak level.

This indicates that crypto-native capital has reached its limit - especially when the revenue scale of most assets is limited, the remaining retail liquidity is no longer sufficient to support a substantial market rise.

But what about assets like Ethena that truly have products, revenue, and growth potential?

They now need access to a larger source of capital: traditional financial funds.

(2)Stablecoins: The Premium Narrative in Traditional Financial Markets

The timing is perfect.

As stablecoins become one of the most important infrastructures in the cryptocurrency space, investors are looking for compliant and transparent ways to invest in this growth track.

Circle, an institutional stablecoin issuer, currently has a market capitalization of approximately $41 billion—investors are paying a premium for exposure to the stablecoin economy.

However, Ethena differentiates itself by not only issuing the stablecoin USDe, but also building a complete financial infrastructure around it.

From its native revenue mechanism to its validator node architecture and DeFi strategy layer, ENA is far from an ordinary stablecoin project; rather, it represents a protocol capable of capturing the growth potential of on-chain stablecoins.

(3)Equity Bridge:StablecoinX’s Positioning

StablecoinX is the equity vehicle for this business logic. It provides institutional investors with a familiar path to participation: they can position themselves in the stablecoin growth trend without having to deal with wallet operations, DeFi entry barriers, or regulatory uncertainty.

More importantly, this forms a scalable closed loop:

As USDE equity demand grows, StablecoinX’s fundraising capacity will increase; as fundraising scale expands, ENA acquisitions and locked-up volumes will increase.

This self-reinforcing cycle transforms equity capital flows into long-term token scarcity.

4. Subsequent Focus

This is a phased plan. If the flywheel effect continues as expected, here are the key milestones to watch: Sustained ENA buying pressure: The $260 million repurchase program remains ongoing and is expected to proceed at a rate of approximately $5 million per day over six weeks. This alone creates a strong short-term technical bullish outlook. USDE's Q4 Nasdaq listing: If StablecoinX launches as planned, equity investors will gain compliant and transparent access to ENA—potentially bringing a new wave of capital to the ecosystem. Organic USDe adoption: As more applications, protocols, and DeFi strategies integrate USDe, users will gradually build trust in the product. The broader the use case, the stronger the reflexive support for ENA. In short, it's still early days. This architecture is ingeniously designed, its incentive mechanism is highly aligned with the stablecoin narrative, and its operating model is completely different from other typical crypto vault operations.