Crypto Treasury Fever Spreads to Ethena as $360M SPAC Deal Targets ENA Accumulation

A new company called StablecoinX aims to be the first public firm to accumulate decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ethena’s ENA (ENA) token after raising $360 million as the crypto treasury trend expands to altcoins.

Nasdaq-listed shell company TLGY Acquisition Corp. and Ethena-focused validator operator startup SC Assets said Monday they plan to merge to form the new company, which will be listed under the “USDE” ticker. The transaction is expected to close in late 2025, according to a press release.

StablecoinX plans to raise $360 million in a private investment in public equity (PIPE) round from a group of investors including Pantera Capital, Dragonfly, Galaxy Digital, Polychain and Blockchain.com, the companies said.

Of the new funding, $100 million is provided in locked-up ENA tokens at a discount, while $260 million is in cash that can be used to purchase more locked ENA from an Ethena Foundation subsidiary.

For its part, the foundation said the subsidiary is starting a token buyback program to acquire $260 million worth of ENA tokens directly from exchanges.

ENA jumped to as high as $0.58 on the news before paring some of the advance. It is roughly 5% higher over the past 24 hours.

The announcement comes as Wall Street’s crypto treasury fever is heating up, spreading from bitcoin

to solana

and ether (ETH) as well as smaller altcoins.

Ethena is a DeFI protocol known for its $6 billion “digital dollar,” USDe, which generates yield by holding spot BTC, ETH and SOL and shorting an equivalent amount of derivatives harvesting the funding rate. The protocol’s native token ENA serves as a governance token giving holders the right to have a say in decision-making.

ENA has been one of the best-performing cryptocurrency over the past few days, rallying 65% over the past week.

Apart of the fresh demand coming from the treasury strategy and token buyback, the protocol is also benefitting from renewed interest in USDe as yields increase due to rising perp funding rates.

Read more: Chart of the Week: Wall Street’s ‘Infinite Money Glitch’ Moves From Bitcoin to Altcoins