Standard Chartered Sets $2 Target for Ethena's ENA by End-2028, Sees USDe at $40 Billion

LONDON, Oct. 1 (CandyPulse) — A major global bank has put a bold number on one of DeFi's biggest tokens. Standard Chartered has started covering Ethena with a year-end 2028 price target of $2 for its ENA token, roughly seven times the $0.28 level cited in its report, The Block and Cointelegraph reported.

What Ethena does

Ethena is the company behind USDe, a dollar-linked token sometimes called a "synthetic dollar". Instead of holding cash in a bank like traditional stablecoins, USDe has historically kept its value steady through a basis trade: holding crypto while shorting perpetual futures on the same asset, earning the funding payments between the two.

ENA is Ethena's governance token.

The bank's case

Standard Chartered's forecast rests on two ideas.

1. USDe keeps growing. The bank expects supply to reach $40 billion by the end of 2028, roughly eight times today's level.

2. Buybacks turn growth into token demand. In early September, Ethena's governance approved a fee switch that sends 95% of net revenue from its business lines to buy back ENA once USDe reaches certain supply thresholds. Ethena estimates that at $25 billion in USDe supply, the mechanism could fund around $375 million a year in buybacks, assuming a 6% gross yield and a 25% net take rate.

By the numbers

Beyond the basis trade

The bank noted that returns from USDe's original crypto basis trade have declined, pushing Ethena to diversify into DeFi and institutional lending, real-world assets and basis trades tied to equities and commodities. Together, those currently generate a blended yield of about 5.2%.

The risks

Bank forecasts are opinions, not promises. For ENA, the big risks include:

• Slower USDe growth than expected, which would shrink buybacks
• Falling yields, which make USDe less attractive to hold
• Market stress, since synthetic dollars rely on trading strategies that can come under pressure in sharp sell-offs
• Token unlocks and selling that could offset buyback demand

What's next

Watch USDe's supply figures closely. They're the clearest signal of whether Standard Chartered's growth story is playing out.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Price targets are analyst forecasts and may not be reached.