In the wake of centralized exchange (CEX) failures and allegations of opaque governance following the market crash on Oct. 10, the debate over decentralized resilience has reached a fever pitch. Against this backdrop, Terminal Finance, an upcoming spot decentralized exchange (DEX) incubated by Ethena, has announced it has surpassed $280 million in pre-deposit total value locked (TVL), validating the market’s pivot toward structurally sound, yield-powered decentralized finance (DeFi).

The successful pre-launch demand underscores the growing appetite for trading venues where risk is governed by code, not policy.

Sam Benyakoub, co-founder and CEO of Terminal Finance, asserts that the core difference between DeFi and centralized finance is fundamentally structural and algorithmic, not merely policy-driven. Addressing the failures seen on CEXs—such as arbitrary trading halts or opaque liquidations—Benyakoub stated:

Users always hold their own keys. Terminal never takes custody, so there is no centralized entity able to freeze, re-hypothecate, or selectively restrict access.

This non-custodial design eliminates the counterparty risk that plagued CEXs, where a platform’s internal solvency issues can directly jeopardize user funds. Furthermore, DEXs’ use of smart contracts ensures deterministic execution; trades clear on-chain exactly as written.

“The protocol doesn’t know identities; it applies the same rules to every address. No whitelists, no selective halts, no special market-maker privileges at the matching layer,” Benyakoub added, emphasizing the transparency and impartiality that decentralization guarantees.

According to a media release, the pre-launch interest in Terminal Finance resulted in its three pre-deposit vaults reaching their hard caps: 225 million USDe stablecoin, 10,000 WETH and 100 WBTC.

This $280 million TVL ensures the DEX launches with deep liquidity, with the token generation event (TGE) expected to align closely with the launch. Over 10,000 wallets are said to have participated in the deposit phase.

Described as the de facto DEX of the Ethena ecosystem, Terminal is purpose-built for trading yield-bearing stablecoins and institutional assets. Its core pairing assets will include Ethena’s synthetic dollar USDe, its yield-bearing variant sUSDe, and USDtb (a stablecoin backed by Blackrock’s BUIDL tokenized fund), enabling trading against assets like ETH and BTC.

Terminal’s flagship innovation is its proprietary Yield Skimming mechanism. This system captures the native yield generated by assets like sUSDe and reinjects it into the DEX economy.

Benyakoub noted that this design sets a new bar for efficiency: “By designing the DEX around a yield-bearing dollar, Terminal benefits from improved economics by default. This makes liquidity bootstrapping significantly more efficient for token issuers and sets a new standard for capital productivity in DeFi.”

Ethena’s Head of Strategy, Nick Chong, affirmed the strategic importance, saying, “We’re proud that the Terminal team is a core part of the Ethena ecosystem,” positioning the DEX as a critical component in driving additional value to users through Ethena assets.

Terminal Finance aims to expand across multiple blockchains alongside Ethena’s growth, rapidly establishing itself as the premier liquidity hub for yield-bearing stablecoins in the next generation of DeFi.

• What is Terminal Finance? Terminal Finance is an upcoming spot Decentralized Exchange (DEX), incubated by Ethena, built for trading yield-bearing stablecoins and institutional assets.
• What is the significance of Terminal Finance’s $280M TVL? The successful pre-launch Total Value Locked (TVL) of over $280 million across USDe, WETH, and WBTC vaults signals massive launch readiness and deep liquidity.
• How does DEXs like Terminal Finance prevent CEX failures like opaque governance? By being non-custodial, a DEX ensures users always hold their own keys and relies on smart contracts for transparent, deterministic trade execution without centralized control.
• What is the Yield Skimming mechanism? Yield Skimming is Terminal Finance’s proprietary innovation that captures the native yield from assets like sUSDe and reinjects it to improve the overall DEX economy and capital efficiency.

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