Ethena Labs’ USDtb Stablecoin Surges 1,500%, Enters Top 10 Stablecoins

USDtb, Ethena Labs’ synthetic stablecoin, surged 1,500% in market capitalization in March, driving it to the eighth-largest stablecoin by market cap.

USDtb’s market cap is hovering at around $1.4 billion, reflecting a 25% increase in the past week alone. USDtb’s March growth allowed it to enter the top 10 stablecoins by market capitalization for the first time.

The synthetic stablecoin is backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, with over 90% of its reserves held in BUIDL. Ethena Labs’ founder recently stated that the company is responsible for 95% of the growth in the BUIDL token, which surged 160% in March, reaching a new all-time high of $1.47 billion, according to a new report by CoinDesk.

USDtb’s increase in market capitalization coincides with the upcoming launch of Converge, an institutional grade Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain for tokenized assets, built in partnership with Securitize, the report noted.

USDtb

USDtb, which maintains a 1:1 peg with the US dollar, was launched by Ethena Labs in December 2024. It was designed as a risk-mitigation tool during market downturns and an alternative to the company’s flagship synthetic dollar, USDe.

USDe is the third-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, standing at $5.29 billion, according to DeFiLlama.

"In light of the rapidly accelerating demand for different stablecoin options, we saw a clear opportunity to provide a new product that offers users an entirely different risk profile from USDe without them having to leave our trusted ecosystem,” Ethena founder Guy Young said at the time of the launch.

Stablecoin growth

Meanwhile, the broader stablecoin market has grown for the eighteenth consecutive month, with total market capitalization rising nearly 4% to $234 billion. Stablecoins now account for 8.02% of the digital asset market, CoinDesk’s report noted.

Since 2019, stablecoin volume and transactions have surged, with volume climbing by 58% and transactions increasing by 35% over the last 12 months, according to Visa’s on-chain analytics.

Tether’s USDT maintains the top stablecoin spot with a current market cap of $145 billion. USDT represents 62% of the stablecoin market, according to DeFiLlama.