Stablecoins have become a battleground for competing powers.

Written by: Eric, Foresight News

On June 9, 2026, the stablecoin protocol Ethena announced a strategic partnership with Janus Henderson. Janus Henderson, a global asset management giant with approximately $480 billion in assets under management, not only acquired Ethena's governance token ENA through its blockchain investment platform ANTIK but also included USDe in its treasury cash management tools, planning to distribute USDe to its institutional clients through exchange-traded products (ETPs). Meanwhile, Ethena incorporated the AAA-rated CLO fund JAAA from Janus Henderson into USDe's reserve asset portfolio.

This is not just a simple financial investment; it is a complete closed-loop covering asset supply, tokenization infrastructure, on-chain distribution, and compliant product development. It marks Ethena's official entry into the core space of traditional finance from a DeFi-native protocol; it also indicates that Wall Street giants are proactively embedding themselves into the stablecoin ecosystem in a somewhat anxious manner.

From Delta-neutral to "a bit of everything"

Ethena initially made its mark with the Delta-neutral strategy stablecoin USDe. Its mechanism is not complex: users deposit ETH or BTC as collateral, and the protocol opens an equivalent perpetual futures short position on a centralized exchange. The long spot and short futures positions hedge each other, maintaining a relatively stable net value regardless of market fluctuations. At the same time, the staking yield from the collateral and the funding rate income from the perpetual contracts combine to provide sUSDe (staked version of USDe) with a yield far exceeding traditional wealth management rates.

This model quickly expanded during the bull market of 2024, with USDe's market capitalization once surpassing $9 billion, making it the third-largest stablecoin after USDT and USDC. However, the inherent flaw of the Delta-neutral strategy soon surfaced: its yield heavily relied on the funding rate of perpetual contracts. In a bullish market characterized by high enthusiasm, the rates remained high; once the market turned bearish or entered a period of fluctuation, funding rates turned negative, and the entire yield engine stalled. During the market crash in October 2025, USDe's market cap evaporated by 60%, and the price of the ENA token dropped by as much as 83%.

The crisis prompted a transformation. Ethena's first response was to launch USDtb, a stablecoin more similar to traditional stablecoins, with 90% of its reserves invested in BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized money market fund, which invests in U.S. Treasury bills, repurchase agreements, and other short-term high-liquidity assets. The yield of USDtb is significantly lower than that of sUSDe, but it offers a safe haven mechanism in a negative funding rate environment.

A more iconic step occurred in April 2026. Ethena reorganized its USDe collateral structure on a scale never seen before: the proportion of perpetual contract positions was drastically reduced to around 20%, replaced by stablecoin reserves, DeFi lending exposures, CLOs (collateralized loan obligations), investment-grade corporate bond funds, and short-term credit assets. Founder Guy Young explicitly stated that expanding USDe's reserve base to include institutional-level traditional assets has been the core strategic goal since early 2026.

At this point, USDe has completed its metamorphosis from a "pure Delta-neutral cryptocurrency synthetic" to a "stablecoin with mixed RWA collateral." It is no longer a purely on-chain native asset but a "bit of everything" composite financial instrument that embraces government bonds, corporate credit, and CLOs.

The deeper logic of the quadruple cooperation

The partnership with Janus Henderson is a natural extension of this transformation path and represents the most institutionalized move to date. The cooperation framework includes four levels:

The first level is the interchangeability of reserve assets. Ethena allocates capital to Janus Henderson's JAAA fund—an AAA-rated CLO product, which is included in USDe's reserves after being tokenized on-chain via Centrifuge. This means that for the first time, USDe's collateral has expanded from government bonds and cryptocurrencies into the corporate credit realm, further diversifying revenue sources.

The second level is strategic investment. Janus Henderson acquires ENA tokens through ANTIK. This is not a traditional equity subscription but a direct acquisition of governance rights in the DeFi protocol—by holding governance tokens, traditional asset management firms can participate in protocol parameter adjustments, risk committee elections, and reserve strategy voting. BlackRock had previously invested in UNI tokens, while Apollo Global Management holds governance tokens from Morpho. This model is becoming the standard paradigm for traditional finance's "equity stake in DeFi."

The third level is treasury cash management. Janus Henderson's inclusion of sUSDe in its cash management tools signifies that this $480 billion asset management giant is willing to expose a portion of its operating funds to Ethena's yield model. This carries significant credit endorsement for USDe—when asset management companies use their own balance sheets to enhance the credibility of stablecoins, they convey not only recognition of the yield but also trust in the protocol's risk control and compliance framework.

The fourth level, which is the most forward-looking, is the joint development of ETP products. The two parties plan to launch exchange-traded products aimed at USDe and ENA in the second half of 2026, bundling stablecoins and governance tokens into securities products that traditional financial institution clients can purchase compliantly. This means Janus Henderson is not just using USDe but also helping Ethena sell USDe: transforming from an asset supplier to a distribution channel.

With these four layers combined, Janus Henderson simultaneously occupies the roles of investor, user, asset provider, and distributor. This is unprecedented in the history of collaboration between traditional finance and DeFi.

Why is Wall Street "lowering its stance"?

This brings us to the core question of the article: Why are Wall Street giants like Janus Henderson willing to lower their stance and become a distribution channel for a stablecoin protocol?

The answer lies in a broader structural anxiety.

In July 2025, the U.S. "GENIUS Act" was officially signed into law, establishing the first comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins at the federal level. The act requires stablecoin issuers to hold 100% of high liquidity reserves (cash, government bonds, or repurchase agreements), comply with OCC and Federal Reserve oversight, and regularly disclose reserve evidence. The core effect of the act is to eliminate the "regulatory arbitrage" space in the stablecoin sector, while also providing traditional financial institutions with a clear entry ticket.

With regulatory clarity, the competition in stablecoins has shifted from "who can bypass the rules" to "who can build the largest distribution network within the rules." The participants in this race are no longer limited to crypto-native companies. PayPal's PYUSD grew by 753% in 2025; Western Union plans to issue its own stablecoin on Solana; institutions like Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale are actively laying the groundwork. BlackRock's BUIDL fund has become the underlying reserve asset for several stablecoins, from Ethena's USDtb to Frax's frxUSD, and Jupiter's JupUSD.

For traditional asset management companies like Janus Henderson, anxiety arises from three levels:

First, there is the strategic pressure of "tokenization or being tokenized." BlackRock has already demonstrated through BUIDL that the world's largest asset management company can fully tokenize its managed assets, making them part of the DeFi ecosystem's infrastructure. If traditional asset management firms do not actively participate in this process, their assets will be "packed" and distributed by other tokenization platforms, leaving them as passive asset providers and losing control over the channels.

Second, there is the pressure on yields. In a declining U.S. interest rate environment, the appeal of traditional fixed-income products decreases, while products like sUSDe can still offer higher yields than money market funds and short-term government bonds even after transformation. For asset management firms, accessing these products is not just about optimizing yields for their own treasury management but also about retaining yield-sensitive institutional clients.

The most fundamental anxiety lies in control over access. Stablecoins are becoming the settlement layer of the global digital economy: in 2024, the annual on-chain transaction volume of stablecoins reached $27.6 trillion, exceeding Visa's $14 trillion. In this new system, whoever controls the issuance and distribution of stablecoins controls the gateway to funding. Traditional financial institutions are well aware of this: if they do not participate in stablecoin distribution, tech companies, payment platforms, and crypto-native protocols will bypass them and establish direct connections with end-users.

Janus Henderson's decision to collaborate with Ethena essentially represents a "retreat to advance" strategy; it acknowledges its disadvantages in on-chain infrastructure and protocol innovation and instead leverages its regulatory licenses, customer networks, and brand reputation to secure a place in the emerging stablecoin system. By becoming a distribution channel for USDe, it not only shares in the growth dividends of the stablecoin market but also ensures that it will not be excluded from the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Conclusion

Ethena's transformation story, to some extent, is a microcosm of the entire DeFi industry. From initially raising the banner of "decentralization, anti-censorship, and independence from traditional banks" to actively embracing BlackRock's BUIDL, Janus Henderson's CLO funds, and regulated ETP products, Ethena is reconstructing its foundation with the bricks of traditional finance.

Meanwhile, Wall Street giants are also undergoing a subtle psychological transformation. They no longer observe DeFi from a high vantage point; instead, they are actively embedding themselves within it, not as disruptors but as channels, distributors, and holders of governance tokens. This "lowering of stature" reflects an anxiety about the future: in a world where stablecoins might become mainstream settlement tools, the risk of not participating is greater than that of participating.

The collaboration between Ethena and Janus Henderson may just be a ripple in the wave of reconstituting financial infrastructure. However, it clearly reveals a trend: the boundaries between traditional finance and decentralized finance are dissolving, and stablecoins are at the core battlefield of this integration.