By late September 2026, Ethena extended its reach beyond the secure boundaries of the pure cryptocurrency world. This USDe issuer, which started with Delta-neutral basis trading relying on BTC and ETH, announced its intention to extend its supporting assets to Binance bStocks and stock perpetual contracts linked to US stocks: buying bStocks tokenized US stock spot on Binance while shorting the corresponding stock perpetual contracts, maintaining Delta neutrality on new targets using the old formula of “spot long + perpetual short” to capture funding rates or basis profits. Unlike in the past, this time USDe is supported not just by a basket of crypto-native assets but for the first time is significantly touching derivatives related to the US stock market and tokenized stocks considered as RWA; Binance serves both as the issuer and custodian of bStocks, as well as the hedging venue for stock perpetuals, with its stock perpetuals’ open interest reportedly exceeding $2.9 billion, providing depth for Ethena’s new strategy and pushing the returns and risks of USDe into the gray area where traditional finance overlaps with on-chain finance.

Delta Neutral Going Mainstream: From BTC to US Stock Perpetuals

Ethena's old playbook is not complicated: buy BTC, ETH, and other spots in the crypto market while simultaneously shorting the same amount in perpetual contracts, with the same underlying asset, opposite direction, and similar notional size to offset price direction fluctuations using Delta neutrality, leaving only the spread from funding rates or basis earnings. Under this structure, as long as the funding rates on one side of the perpetual contracts are long-term biased towards the short side’s profit, Ethena can provide a relatively predictable return curve for USDe without exposing itself to significant directional risks, which is also why USDe's supporting assets have almost entirely been built around crypto-native assets.

Now, this structure has been transferred to the stock market: Ethena buys tokenized US stocks bStocks on Binance as the “spot leg” and then shorts the corresponding USDT-priced stock perpetual contracts on the same exchange, with the goal of maintaining overall Delta neutrality while capturing the funding rates or price basis between the two legs. Formally, this is almost identical to BTC/ETH basis trading, but the underlying assumptions start to become unfamiliar: the participant structure and risk preferences in the stock perpetual market differ from those in the mainstream crypto perpetuals, and there is currently a lack of publicly verifiable long-cycle data regarding whether funding rates will remain relatively stable over time like BTC/ETH; the reported open interest of Binance stock perpetuals exceeding $2.9 billion suggests that this market shows at least some superficial depth, but whether the liquidity can withstand substantial hedges under extreme market conditions, as well as whether the price correlation between bStocks and their corresponding stock perpetuals, and the underlying US stock assets, remains tightly tracked, will determine whether this “replicated” Delta-neutral structure can truly replicate the risk-return balance that Ethena relied on during the pure crypto basis era.

Binance One-stop Counterparty and Concentrated Risk

In this new stock basis chain, Binance plays an almost “one-stop” role: on one end, it is the issuer and custodian of bStocks, providing Ethena with tokenized US stock spot positions; on the other end, it is the primary hedging location for the corresponding stock perpetual contracts, carrying the short leg. Ethena’s completion of the “spot long + perpetual short” Delta-neutral structure within the same exchange means that price matching, margin management, and clearing are all locked within Binance’s system. For institutions aiming to scale their basis significantly, this concentration has intuitive benefits: operating both legs under the same order book and risk control framework can reduce the friction of transferring funds and assets across exchanges, lowering the risk of timing mismatches during hedging execution, and allowing for more stable spreads in liquidity-concentrated areas. Combined with the reported open interest of stock perpetuals exceeding $2.9 billion, this design of “one exchange completing the entire link” provides an operable infrastructure for Ethena to extend USDe’s support to US stock-related derivatives.

However, this same concentration also adds the risk of counterparty and systemic single points of failure. The research brief did not disclose whether Ethena conducts similar stock basis trading on other exchanges; under the condition of limited external information, Binance at least stands as the irreplaceable key link in this strategy chain: as long as the trading platform's operational stability, clearing mechanisms, or risk parameters undergo unexpected changes, the stock basis positions backing USDe could encounter squeezes even without significant price fluctuations. For instance, if the pricing of bStocks deviates from its corresponding US stocks, and if the funding rates or risk control rules of stock perpetuals are adjusted unilaterally by the same platform, Ethena’s seemingly “Delta neutral” combination effectively has to bear exposure to the pricing and risk management framework of a single venue. Market observers view Binance's dual role as a structure where efficiency and risk overlap: it allows USDe to quickly access US stock-related earnings in a deep market, while also tying the new RWA/derivative support closely to the robustness of a single exchange.

USDe Earnings Puzzle: A New Piece of Stock Basis

Having tightly bound the risks to the same trading platform, Ethena did not stop at the crypto basis leg. Around late September 2026, a single source reported that its risk committee approved incorporating tokenized stock basis trading into USDe's configuration strategy: going long on bStocks tokenized US stock spot on Binance while shorting the corresponding USDT-priced stock perpetual contracts, continuing the consistent “spot long + perpetual short” Delta neutral structure. For Ethena, this is just an additional layer on top of the existing BTC, ETH basis framework; for USDe’s supporting logic, however, it means officially crossing from pure crypto-native assets into derivatives and the intersection with RWAs linked to the US stock market. The reported open interest of Binance stock perpetual contracts exceeding $2.9 billion is sufficient to provide a basic liquidity foundation for this new piece, allowing USDe’s sources of earnings to no longer solely revolve around crypto assets’ funding rates and basis volatility.

What truly changes the narrative is the potential for misaligned earnings cycles. The funding rates and basis of stock perpetuals are increasingly influenced by the expectations of listed companies, stock market sentiments, and traditional financial leverage cycles, which do not necessarily move in the same direction as the BTC and ETH perpetual funding rates driven by on-chain leverage and crypto risk preferences. What Ethena seeks to exploit is this “different rhythm”: when crypto basis is compressed and DeFi leverage retreats, stock perpetuals might maintain a completely different funding rate rhythm, thus introducing new earnings drivers for USDe so that this token’s earnings curve is no longer solely tied to the prosperity and decline of the crypto market. Compared to other dollar-pegged assets that primarily rely on treasury or cash-like assets as collateral, emphasizing the “safety pool” attribute, USDe has already woven basis earnings from derivatives into its core narrative, and now adding this layer of stock basis also packages US stock-related volatility and the structural risk of Binance as a single venue, making USDe look more like a basket of actively managed hedge derivative positions in the eyes of the market rather than being viewed simply as a risk-free dollar alternative.

Stock Market Volatility and Regulatory Shadows Introduced

When Ethena introduced bStocks and stock perpetuals into the collateral and hedging mix of USDe, the price volatility and sentiment of US stocks were indirectly assigned to this stable value token. The new structure is: going long on bStocks-like tokenized US stock spot on Binance, and then shorting the corresponding stock perpetual contracts, theoretically continuing to maintain Delta neutrality and earn funding rates or basis earnings. However, the underlying assets are no longer BTC or ETH, but include the performance expectations, geopolitical volatility, and macro sentiments carried by US individual stocks or indices, meaning that each earnings report season or reversal of macro expectations could reflected through changes in funding rates and basis back to the support layer of USDe.

The issue lies in the fact that this new pipeline is inherently shrouded in significant gray areas. bStocks is only defined as tokenized US stocks issued by Binance, yet there is no publicly available complete list of underlying assets, custody structure, issuing parties, or regulatory status, making it difficult for outsiders to judge its precise relationship with traditional brokerage systems and cross-border capital controls. Meanwhile, the historical performance and volatility characteristics of stock perpetual funding rates lack verifiable data, making it difficult for the market to assess how funding rates would abruptly change or how liquidity would withdraw under extreme conditions. Should there be a sudden regulatory crackdown, adjustment of contract rules, or unilateral surge in US stocks, the “spot long + perpetual short” structure that Ethena relies on could either be devoured by a sudden reversal in funding rates, or could become a weak link in the overall support system as custodial and compliance uncertainties are amplified.

A New Battleground after the Convergence of Stablecoins and RWAs

From pure BTC and ETH basis to incorporating stock perpetual contracts and tokenized stocks into the asset pool, Ethena has pushed USDe to a new intersection of narrative: the on-chain “dollar yield products” now start to deeply intertwine with traditional financial derivatives and the RWA track. Just as it claims to earn funding rates using Delta-neutral structures, USDe is no longer supported solely by crypto-native assets' spot and perpetual pairings, but has extended to stock-related bStocks spots and stock perpetual contracts, searching for basis and funding rate misalignments within a multi-asset portfolio. If this stock basis path proves sustainable in the coming time period, USDe has the opportunity to surpass those similar products that only dare to step on crypto collateral due to its narrative regarding not just “on-chain interest rates” but rather “bringing Wall Street volatility onto the chain.”

However, the key variables in this new battle have already been inscribed into the structure today. First, there is concentration: under the current design, Binance is both the issuer and custodian of bStocks, as well as the primary trading venue for stock perpetuals, which places USDe's dependence on this single off-exchange infrastructure under a microscope; any changes regarding platform compliance, custody arrangements, or trading rules will directly penetrate to the underlying asset layer. Second, the scope of assets: whether Ethena will continue to incorporate more categories of RWA and traditional derivatives into the Delta-neutral combination or pull back its lines in the early trial stage will determine whether USDe is building a diversified risk factor yield machine or simply has added a small piece of stock to the existing crypto basis. Third, regulatory and policy responses: once regulators begin to systematically examine the structural relationships between tokenized stocks, cross-border derivatives, and on-chain dollar products, whether this “spot long + perpetual short” model is viewed as an innovatively manageable tool or as a risky structure needing disassembly will directly determine how far USDe can go in this new battleground.

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